Thread: When to strop?

I read in the art of the straight razor shave by Christopher Moss, wich i highly recommend, that a straight razor actually recovers its edge on its own with time. That said, Stroping right after a shave would i guesss render this propriety useless in the sense that if you wait till your next shave before stropping you would have to strop less since the razors edge will have straightened out on its own. So you would be stropping more then necessary. Has anyone else here read this somewhere else? seems to make sence to me.

The theory is that after shaving the fins on the edge will grow a bit. I don't think that it makes a bit of difference as far as shaving goes or stropping.

You also have to remember that stropping does nothing to sharpen a razor it just dresses up the edge a bit. Once you've reached a certain point you can strop till your arm falls off and the razor will not improve. I also do not believe mid shave stropping will for-stall the need for honing since you are not sharpening the razor.

You can take a monkey and dress him up in a tuxedo and have him wear a diamond ring and a rolex watch and he might look like a swell but he's still a monkey. The same with dressing up a razor on a strop. A dull razor will still be a dull razor no matter how much its dressed!

Well the way i understand it, Is that the edge straightens out a bit on its own, and if i am not mistaken, stroping serve this same purpose. Therefore if you let the edge straighten out on its own for a day or two less stroping should be necessary.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

You can take a monkey and dress him up in a tuxedo and have him wear a diamond ring and a rolex watch and he might look like a swell but he's still a monkey.

You have to ask yourself just one question, "Do I feel lucky?"...Well, do ya', punk...Go Ahead...Make My Day.

Lifes too short to wait for the edge to grow back again tbh, thats why stropping was invented I guess

PuFF

I strop only before I shave. I have never stropped either during or after. I really don't see the need to. If my blade is sharp enogh I find 20-30 trips on my strop works fine.