Thread: First strop

Stropped my 6/8" Dovo (full hollow) for the first time today (2nd shave), and things seemed to go well. A few passes (~20) on the fabric side, then more (~40) on the leather, with lots of pressure on the spine, but hardly any on the edge. The shave went well, and then I stropped a little after (not as much as before) to make sure everything was clean and dry before packing away.

The thing I don't know is how do I know I did it right? How do I know I didn't cause damage?

What can I use as feedback to improve my technique?

The shave is your test. It wouldn't hurt to go 75 on the leather and think light. The words "lots of pressure" and straight razor don't go together well at all. Ever ! Keep it on the spine yes. Just enough pressure to hold it on the leather. If you can keep shaving without it pulling then your stropping right :<0) The only other thing to do is find someone near you to learn first hand. You can do it, just go slow and light.

Use a good lighted loupe or scope to look at your edge before you strop and after, this will tell you if you are making progress or damage.

Stropping is the Catch 22 of Straight Razor maintenance. You have to learn to strop to maintain an edge, but until you learn to strop properly, you will probably damage the edge.

A shave ready edge is a very fragile thing, a razor must be stropped before each use for maximum performance and one errant stroke can ruin an edge.

Read the threads at the beginning of the Stropping forum, especially the Stroptober thread, there are many good videos and tips there.

Keep the spine on the strop at all times, use lite pressure, stop forward movement then flip, do 75 -100 laps, go slow 25-30 laps per minute.

The goal of stropping is to polish and re-align the edge. If you use too much pressure, you will break the edge. Magnification will show you if this has occurred, you will also feel this in an uncomfortable shave that may draw blood.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Use a good lighted loupe or scope to look at your edge before you strop and after, this will tell you if you are making progress or damage.

You can do this for stropping too? I'm relatively new to this art and was wondering the same thing about my stropping technique. I get good shaves. but how do I know if I got my stropping down pat? I know I'm not rolling the edge, thats for sure. can you recommend a good loupe?

thanks

Carson 200 microscope is 60 to 100x and works well to really see the bevel. For basics just a 40x jewelers loupe

I like and use these two. The Carson MM200 and the 60x lighted loupe.

You can buy the Carson for 10-15 bucks and the 60X for as low as $2.

Both work well, the Carson takes a bit of getting used to but offers 60 and 100X.

There are several post on both of these in the Workshop forum.

I have one of the 60X lighted loupes pictured above which I use when honing. It cost next to nothing on EBay. Actually, it was so cheap that when the battery gives out it'll be cheaper to buy a new unit than a new battery. Get one!

You need to practice quite a bit to get good, and I would highly recommend watching some stropping videos from you tube. Lynn has some really useful ones, and there are others too. Watching it done correctly takes the place of reading all day about correct form

I prefer the light loupe to the microscope. It's just easier for me to focus and go.

So would you all agree that the Big Daddy strop is a good quality tool for the price?