Strop pastes and Block Alum

If you do not have a fine Belgian or Arkansas stone, an inexpensive alternative is a cow hide strop with strop abrasive paste. These abrasives will contaminate a strop with grit, so once you've dedicated your strop for this purpose, there's no turning back. A little bit goes a long way. You work it into the leather in a circular rubbing motion with your palm. The green and red pastes are abrasive, green being coarse and red being medium. Black is very fine for final polishing. The yellow paste is a conditioner only with no abrasives.

All pastes are individually sold for ..... $5.00 + S&H.

Block Alum was the original styptic pencil to stem the bleeding from minor razor nicks. Its use remained common in barber shops into the twentieth century. The barber would use the same alum block on all customers. Health regulations finally put an end to its communal use.

Even without any nicks, it was rubbed across the freshly shaven face . Being an astringent it soothed any razor burn and restored the acidity that shaving soap would wash away. I use it in lieu of after shave lotion.

Block alum each....... $10.00 + S&H