Wow, was I stropping wrong. Doh!

So, the nice thing about being a beginner is that ridiculousness is forgiven. Despite the fact that I watched several stropping videos
I spent the first 8 shaves of my new straight razor experience stropping with the blade first and not the spine. I guess I was just
confused on the concept. And the action was decent, so it didn't raise any red flags for me.

As I shaved each time though, I'll be honest, I was nicking myself less and less, and thought "Oh, I'm getting good at this." What I didn't
realize was the blade was just getting a little duller each time. (For beginners, not so bad)

Then I stropped my razor PROPERLY for the first time and it was such a different shave. So sharp! Shave 9 was my best shave
yet! I'm back on track. Lesson learned.

Yes, the pitfalls of video tutorials. Some of them are less than useful. You still might find Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Library worth reading. It's got all the right things in it, and in an easily digestible fashion.

I'm amazed your strop survived the ordeal :)

Me too!!
You can cut a strop so easy it's not even funny!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SteveA

I'm amazed your strop survived the ordeal :)

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Yea, pretty much a miracle that the strop and blade survived 8 mis stroppings like that. With luck like that I'd buy a lottery ticket.;)

Bob

I don't see how that's possible. Can you post a video of you doing it?

I guess your blade must be blunt or your strop is made of sheet metal.

Hi HopChugger,

Thank you for posting your experience. No doubt it will be helpful to a lot of folks.

Since you didn't damage your strop or razor, you must have a very controlled, light touch - a real testament to your natural ability. That's a big plus when shaving with a straight razor.

Ein zwei g'suffa! :)

Jeff

We were all new at this once, glad you figured out the strop. I'm also quite surprised you didn't make 2 strops out of one.

I think you are correct. It was light touch, low angle. I got it dialed in now though and just had a fantastic shave!

The most impressive thing, really, isn't that you didn't slice the strop, but that you didn't ruin your edge! As others have said, you have the right touch.

I'd say if you didnt nick the strop by stropping in reverse you didnt actually do anything to the edge & it simply degraded.

+1 What Onimaru said. I find it very hard to believe that edge was touching the strop. (not saying it didn't) Almost makes me want to experiment but leather isn't cheap :<0)