Herold Solingen HS56J Double-sided Tension Strap, green

The double-sided Juchten leather strop from Herold®, originating from the German knife city of Solingen, is specially designed for sharpening and polishing authentic straight razors. With an effective leather surface of 19.5 x 4 cm, this tool provides the perfect support. Model 56J is equipped on one side with a green base coating, suitable for stainless steel razors, and is used in combination with the green strop paste.

A strop is used for stropping your (shaving) razor. By turning the handle, you tighten the flexible strap through a reliable tensioning system – it is important that the strap is not too loose to achieve optimal results. During stropping, you align and polish the edge of the blade, removing small scratches and burrs that occur during shaving, allowing the blade to regain its sharpness.

Although the strop is primarily used by users of authentic straight razors, it is also excellent for the maintenance of other knives. The strop paste can be used multiple times after a single application before a new layer is needed. The untreated side of the strop can be used both with another sharpening paste and directly as a shaving strop.

Herold has been known for many years as the specialist in high-quality strops, tension belts, and accompanying pastes.

Advice/Use When the knife feels dull, it's time to use the honing strap. This honing strap has two sides: a colored side (red or green) and a brown side. The colored side is smeared with sharpening paste, which is not always necessary – as long as the knife makes a grinding sound during stropping, there is enough paste present. Allow the paste to dry after application.

Place the knife flat on the underside of the tension strap, with the back facing up. Move the knife upwards without pressure, then gently turn it over the back and move down again.

After approximately 10 back and forth movements over the tension strap, 10 times on the canvas, and 20 times on the leather side of the strop, the blade is sharp again. In case of a more significant loss of sharpness, the use of a sharpening stone is necessary.