Quick question on stropping

[lowks]

Can someone tell me am I supposed to let the razor lay flat on the stop of put it at an angle when I strop. I know there are many videos on youtube but it is something that is hard to see.

Thanks in advance.

[bombay]

yes completely flat, have you looked through the strobtober thread yet here

[Damo]

I know that you have seen youtube videos, but would recommend having a look at this thread. It helped me no end when I was trying to work out how to hold the wrist flat and the elbow above the strop. It may also help on angles. The second is the wiki article with info on angles and a couple of good animations. I would probably read the second article then go and watch it in practice in the videos. The videos are great since there are good comments after each!

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...st-2012-a.html

Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Wiki

[lowks]

Thanks a lot !

[lowks]

The other question that puzzles me is which side of the leather are we supposed to stop on ? The "furry" side or the "smooth" side ?

[Damo]

smooth, unless you have a strop which is a double sided strop with a different material on the back, like linen. If you have an entry level strop like I do, then smooth.

[Wayne1963]

I used to have trouble stropping, my hand would tire and I had too much wrist rotation at the pivot. I was holding the tang between my pointing finger and thumb...holding the flat of the tang. Now I hold opposing corners of the tang. Now my pivot is smooth with just a little rotation. My hands don't tire. Holding the tang in a deathgrip leads to you muscling your blade instead of finessing it.

[jfleming9232]

Definitely flat. Also, this is another area where "light touch" really means light touch. Try to use just enough pressure to hold the blade to the strop. As stated above, the Stroptober thread can be a big help with stropping.