Thread: Strop before use

Does one strop his razor before using a pasted strop or leather hone? It seems to me I saw this somewhere. It make sense to align the teeth before polishing. I mean we strop before using a finish hone, right? I know before I hone a knife, I'll run it along a steel first to align the teeth.

I heard that it's beneficial to strop the razor before final finishing, so I've been doing it that way ever since I started using a bench hone. Logically, I don't think it would be necessary for actual hones, but I can see why it would be beneficial for soft surfaces and a stropping motion.

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

... Logically, I don't think it would be necessary for actual hones, but I can see why it would be beneficial for soft surfaces and a stropping motion.

Ilija, I have some practical experience with that:
NOS blade, factory sharpened close to shave ready. Perfect edge inspected under 30x. I took the blade to Norton 8K (verified lapped flat) - several passes, edge feels improving. However, inspection under 30x revealed a couple of chips (not the *usual* microchipping). Given this - now I believe that there were some misaligned teeth that broke off on the first few passes on the 8K. I may be wrong, but lately I do some passes to re-align the edge before honing. I figure it certainly can't hurt much, and maybe it can help.

Cheers
Ivo