My Valet Auto Strop Collection

Here are some pics from my collection of Valets
Both British and US models as well as a US army issue set

Wow. I wish that I could find someone who makes modern replacement strops.

Mine deteriorated long ago.

Nice Collection, especially like the Military Set ! My favorites are before Valet, Autostrop A1 and A2.

I wonder how much it would cost to re-start production of the Valet Auto Strop razor? Something like the Model "C". Somewhere I think I read that the Japanese manufacturer of Feather Blades Made Auto Strops for some time. Maybe they still have the tooling?

I wonder how much it would cost to re-start production of the Valet Auto Strop razor?  Something like the Model "C".  Somewhere I think I read that the Japanese manufacturer of Feather Blades Made Auto Strops for some time.  Maybe they still have the tooling?

There were Japanese Models but not sure who the manufacture was. The A models shave much better than the C in my experience.

One of the things that I like about the Auto Strop (and the Rolls for that matter) is that if you use the carbon steel blades and strop them before and after each shave, they shave a lot like a SR in that the blade edge is the same on every shave, and you don't have to constantly adjust your technique like you do with a disposable blade that changes on every shave. I admit that the carbon steel blades are not as smooth as the SS blades, but I found that they actually got better as you used them and stropped them. Also, there really is nothing that would prevent you from refreshing the carbon steel blades on an 8k stone if you could set up some sort of jig to maintain the angle like the spine on an SR does.

The rough side of the Auto Strop strop was patterned as if it was designed for either drying/cleaning the blade (like the canvas part of a SR strop) and maybe for taking a paste?

Here's mine:

I understand enjoying the Carbon Steel and using the stropping feature for that. I do disagree with the SS blade changing after a shave to the point of having to change shaving "technique". Stropping merely aligns the microscopic edge of the blade making it sharper and feel keener. It does not change the geometry of the honed blade. Therefore no change in technique when I shave is needed, I just shave until the edge no longer is smooth or sharp. Stropping isn't needed with Modern SS blades that have a PTFE coating maintaining that microscopic edge for enough shaves to get the value and the smoothness benefit. Any way, That's my opinion and experience. Happy Shaves to you and Nice Valet !

Hmmm....well this is what I mean by "changing technique". With a fresh feather SS blade no matter how little pressure I try to use, I always get a weeper somewhere. After the second shave, I can use more pressure and steeper angles without getting weepers, so my technique does change. With the carbon steel blades, after a few cycles of shaving and stropping, i use the same pressure and angles on every shave. This is all from memory as I only use SS blades now because my strop is long gone.