Thread: Stropping - lifting the razor off the strop at the end of a pass

I agree with Jimbo . Keeping the spine on the strop felt a little awkward at first , for me too . But it was easy to learn , and well worth the effort .

So glad I read this. Being a newbie, today will be my 5th day, I thought that the razor should be lifted of the strop at the end of the stroke but that the most important thing was having the edge lifted off the strop first.

Just tried stropping with the spine never leaving the strop and it felt so much better. It was also a much faster transition although being new I'm still very slow in comparison to videos I've seen. Still not totally comfortable with stropping but hopefully getting better.

Thanks

Doing it this way is like stopping and starting every pass and will be more time consuming. It can be done but odds are you will damage the edge and nick up your strop especially as you are still learning. If you are flipping the razor in your fingers then it should be a easy change to keep the blade on the strop. Good luck

Originally Posted by Euclid440

If you lift the spine before the razor stops, just once you will roll the edge.

That is simply not true. At least not in a general sense. Now if you were to exert a lot of pressure on the strop while doing that, or if you lift the spine to a 45-degree angle or something, then yes a rolled edge could result. But lifting the spine a tiny bit during normal stropping is not harmful, and could actually aid in straightening out the edge.

Really?
Straighten the edge?
How do you know how much to lift?
Perhaps you can demonstrate this technique?

When I tried learning the thumb/idex no-wrist no-lift strop flip... phew. It seemed as difficult as learning how to tie my shoelaces in a bow when I was maybe four years old; it took about a week to sort it out. Glad I practiced with a butterknife - have yet to wreck a strop beyond a drop of rubber cement (and that has been a while). Result is a consistent, precise movement with very light blade contact. I honor the men who can lift, flip and continue to march with the same good resuts.

I yam followink method of hibudgl, as thees eez right method straight razor stroppink:

http://youtu.be/9mj5YliQQzg

I lift the razor off the stop each stroke because it's easier to position the blade( for me). However watching the video above has me trying this method and as I become less awkward with the movement it seems mechanically better

Originally Posted by ace

Lifting the razor off the strop complicates the process, adding an unnecessary motion. If you can strop well when lifting the razor from the strop, you can do just as well without doing it and therefore avoid problematic mistakes.

This . . . K.I.S.S. The fewer variables, the better. but, I am still less than ten shaves into my Straight razor journey, so what do I know?

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Really?
Straighten the edge?
How do you know how much to lift?
Perhaps you can demonstrate this technique?

Try it. As in most things in this hobby, YMMV, but I expect you might be pleasantly surprised.

Learning to keep the spin on the strop can be difficult but over time it becomes second nature. For instance, if I try to start my strop session with the edge and the razor farthest away from me on the strop I get confused and have to stop. I strop the same way I have been for 35 years, with the edge towards me and the razor closest to me on the strop. I start off slow going away and then flip it on the spine so that the edge is away from me and then slow back. I pick up speed as I get into the swing of it.