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Hi all - first post. I'm absorbing all I can re straight shaving and one item which puzzles me are the comments that "you can damage/nick a strop". Since one is moving the razor away from the blade's edge at all times, I can't see how one would ever cut into the strop's surface. Can someone enlighten me as to what I'm missing?
Toonfully yours
Crowden
Pressure on the blade, not keeping strop taught, twisting strop while stropping...lots of things can and do happen.
I just nicked my roo strop last night. Lost focus and flipped blade before reversing direction. Happened in a flash. Sounds dumb because it was. But it happened.
Slow, steady, and total focus you will be fine.
Good luck!
No one is perfect every time. We all make mistakes now and then, just to irritate ourselves.
I'm fine with mistakes, I just couldn't visualize a mistake that would do it!Quote:
Originally Posted by SS502MC
Just as EdG says it can and we all have done it from time to time. You may be lucky an never experience it but like most things it hard to visualize till you do it.
Bob
Next time you sneeze, picture a razor in your hands. :<0) It's basically going the wrong way at the right time. When it happens your kind of glad it wasn't your finger this time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Headcrowny
Usually it's caused by changing direction before flipping, or flipping before changing direction. Both are caused by going too fast before having the motions down.
Ja, now I understand. Flipping too soon and going edge-first - makes total sense. I'll probably do that on my second try, due to overconfidence from my first attempt ;-)
Same strop for a decade. One nick. Usually a nick occurs when guys stop the razor.
I've noticed on a lot of people's strops that I've seen (my early ones too), small nicks on the dominant hand side at the end where you hold the strop. So also be careful to keep the razor parallel to the surface throughout the movement and don't start dropping the elbow.
James.
Sounds like good advice for a golf swing too!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimbo
+1 on stropping when tired. Flipped wrong way on my first strop(roo) and that's all folks. Lost 1/3 of the strop. Good thing was home made and had extra leather to swap it out with. That first one got nicked a bit though so wasn't too upset. If you don't nick it Id say you'd be in the minority. Take it slow to start and it'll be much less likely though. Good luck
Don't think you wont nick your strop, you will. We all have for different reasons.
I did it by lengthening my stropping stroke. I hit the reinforced built up area at the end of the strop with the razor spine. The razor bounced back toward the strop edge first and "BINGO" a nick. It's definitely possible and seems to happen just when you don't think it will.
So my goal will be not to avoid nicking the strop but merely to see how long I can go before I get my first nick!Quote:
Originally Posted by Brenngun
Both. Try to avoid it but will probably happen and that is no biggy . We've all done it. Good luck
I reckon, with tender care and studiousness, that it is possible to never nick your strop. The problem is those littles rushes of blood to the head, or those small moments of distraction, or a tad of overconfidence.
I've found it can be a humbling hobby.
James.
My question is do those little flaps of leather dull your razor when you pass over them?
Those are the cuts I was making when I first started stropping last year. I also made a few cuts on the top part of the strop due to quick & bad blade flipping. I sure learned to be careful quickly after that. It's a good thing I got a cheap strop to learn on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimbo
They can dull your razor. I had minor very ones, that were not deep, so I could easily peel them off. I've read about others having cuts so bad that they had to fix them with rubber cement or something similar.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vegita182
The first time I stropped my newly acquired Wade and Butcher, I scarred up the surface of my strop. There was a burr on the heel of this "shave ready" blade when it was delivered. Even with my keen machinist eyes I didn't notice the burr while examining the blade before stropping.
Now I run every newly honed blade over a stiff leather strop. I keep this ugly unruly strop around just for this purpose. It's great for knocking off a burr before it gets to my good strop.