Thread: Am I going in the right direction?

Thats the problem Steve. A new guy wants details on how to strop. After years its just swish swish to us.

Good point Steve. If you hear that sound like ripping paper then your leaning back on the edge too much. It really does become second nature after a while. If you ask me about stropping I have to go strop a little because I don't really think about it.

Hay all
I did a oil pre-shave versus not last night and can't tell the difference as well.

About stroping, any speculation on what happens with a more traditional bury the spine vrs holding the strop tight and using a light touch?
I will try as recommend and I like to know why.

Thanks
Matt

The light touch without any bowing of the strop, meaning to hold it tight with no flex would cause the edge to not make much contact with the strop. You are stropping to refine or straighten the edge. Also smooth out any wrinkles in the edge. This does take some solid contact with the leather.
But we all have a little flex. Some more than others. Thats the fine line you must learn. Having more flex means you must bury the spine more to keep the leather coming from the edge flat. A lighter flex means not burying the spine as much to keep the leather coming from the edge flat.

So some flex of the strop is needed and the key is to have the bend in the leather happening at the spine no matter if its a lot or little flex. Plus not having any real Pressure pushing the edge down against the leather.

Hope this makes sense. One more thing to know about stropping is evan if you have a 3" wide strop, its still best to do the X pattern.

If you want more details or have questions about Stropping, post in the stropping section of the forum.

Think about other news guys who come along. They want to learn stropping but this info is buried in a intro thread.

It helps others when the title of a thread has to do with what is in the thread.

Dont get me wrong. Im happy to help. We all are. New members and new people who want to learn the straight is fun and why we are all here.