Thread: Looking to understand stropping

Stropping on a paddle is different than stropping on a hanging strop. Hanging strops are more forgiving, especially for new stroppers.

1. Pressure, yes you need some pressure, but too much especially on a paddle strop will roll the edge.

Holding the razor by the corner of the tang and torque/twist the tang to put pressure on the edge. Ensure that you keep the spine and edge on the strop always. You want enough pressure to keep the razor flat on the strop, but not so much you roll the edge.

2. Speed, kills… an edge and your strop. Speed will come with experience, but it is not necessary. Go SLOW. You want quality smooth laps, not quantity. Heat has nothing to do with the results of stropping.


3. Palm heating, I assume you are talking about rubbing the strop, not palm stropping.

Personally, I believe rubbing is a myth and a destructive one. Folks say that they are adding oil from your skin to the strop. Perhaps, but if you hand is dirty you will be grinding airborne dust into the strop. If you wash your hand, you wash off any oil on your palm.

The goal is to clean the strop, the strop should be as clean/pristine as possible to prevent imbedding dirt into the strop.

So, imagine you have a show car with an immaculate paint job. Do you wipe your dirty hand on the dusty paint, to clean and polish the paint?

I know many will say they have done this for years without issue… but to me, it just does not make sense. Wipe your strop with a clean damp cloth. Add oil separately if needed.

Many of the razors I hone for people have deep scratches on the bevels and chipped edges, I believe from dirt imbedded in their strops.

You can make a good strop from a clean smooth leather belt, nylon seat belt or cotton or nylon belt or strip of canvas. Stropping can take a while to perfect to the point that you are improving the edge. Until then a quality leather strop will not make much difference.