Thread: strap or a water stone ?

Originally Posted by naknik

from what I've been reading , the canvas side of the starp function the same as the water stone .
so what is the different , what is better and why to buy strap + water stone ?
why people are using water stone to sharp the razor and then stroping it with the leather side ?
why not doing it all with the strap (canvas + leather) ?

The fabric doesn't function the same as a waterstone, by any stretch of the imagination. It does polish the edge very nicely, and it can sharpen albeit very slowly. But most waterstones are much faster than the strop, especially the coarser ones like the coticule, norton, and low-grit shaptons and naniwas. Once you get into the 16K+ grit stones then I'm inclined to agree that the linen or canvas is a reasonable substitute for what will be an extremely expensive stone, and the lack of use my Shaptons and my Nakayama Asagi have received in recent years has convinced me of that. But first you've got to get the razor sharp, or you'll be there stropping for a year trying to remove the necessary metal. After it's sharp though you can keep a razor going for a long time with just the strop, if you think of the linen side as your touch-up hone. But a lot of guys will reach for a touch-up hone when their razor starts dulling instead of just stropping it more. Everybody's got their preferences though, and there's no "right" way to do things.

That said, there should be very little debate as to whether the linen side "does something", though I admit I was wrong on this for several years. But AFAIK all of the guys that can go 60+ shaves without touching up on a pasted strop or hone are the ones making significant use of the linen side, and the ones that get less than 14 shaves out of an edge don't (or they're newbies and have technique issues). There are guys that use the linen side and don't seem to get much out of it, but just as with a hone it takes some time to develop the technique and "touch" for effective use of the linen, and it seems most guys try it a couple of days and then stop bothering when they don't see instant results.

I suspect the sag in a hanging strop eventually damages the edge to the point where it needs to be rehoned on your preferred waterstone or oilstone. I'm currently experimenting with a leather/linen paddle to see if this hypothesis holds up.