GÜDE strop smoked oak 5959/26

A blunt knife is either caused by the bevel angle not being sharp enough or by the bevel surface being too rough—or both. Therefore, the bevel angle and bevel surface should be restored to as perfect a state as possible so that the knife can perform its cutting tasks as it did on the first day.

Restore wading angle and smooth wading surface

Once the edge angle has been restored, for example, with the help of a whetstone, you'll notice that the surface of the edge is significantly rougher than on a new razor. It therefore requires additional smoothing. A barber uses a leather strop to smooth the surface of the edge before each shave. The leather removes even the finest imperfections and polishes the edge. This way, it glides better, avoids skin irritation, is sharper, and cuts better.

Two sides: Coarse split leather, smooth grain leather

This is precisely the purpose of the new strop from GÜDE. The body, made of fine smoked oak, is covered on both sides with vegetable-tanned cowhide. One side is covered with coarse split leather, the other with smooth full-grain leather, the top surface of the cowhide. To remove even the slightest imperfections and any burrs left from resharpening, the bevel is first stropped several times over the rough side of the strop toward the spine of the blade. Subsequent stropping several times over the fine full-grain leather side of the strop polishes the bevel.

By the way: The GÜDE strop is not coated, so that a grinding or polishing paste can be applied if necessary.