Thread: Stropping on a narrow strop

Hello

I have a new strop coming to me and it is a 2" wide. A question I have for those of you that use narrow strops, do you start your X pattern with the heal on the strop or the toe on the strop. I am assuming it is a personal preference thing but was just curious if anyone had a reasoning behind it.

If this should be in the strop forum would a mod please move it...thanks..


eric

Starting with the heal on the strop makes the X pattern part of a natural motion, at least if you hold the razor in your dominant hand and the strop with the other. To make the toe first natural, you would have to stand with your arms crossed.

Some things just come naturally if you don't over analyze them, this is true of most things involved with shaving.

If you start with the toe then you are likely to under- or over-shoot the heel. I see no benefit to outweigh that disadvantage.

I did once experiment using a diagonal stroke (SW to NE, then returning NE to SW), there seemed to be potential for greater speed, but I soon returned to using an X-stroke with the heel in contact at the start of each stroke. It just feels natural.

I start on the down: heel to toe; and go up- toe to heel.

Originally Posted by kevint

I start on the down: heel to toe; and go up- toe to heel.

do you hone that same way...so that the stropping and honing arein opposite and crossing ways...

i read some of your other post about honing and stropping direction...interesting and at the same time very confussing for a newbie...haha

I believe I do both the same. Pushing away/ toe to heel. pulling back to me/ heel to toe. Not for directional reasons though. It's only because that's the way I do it.

Which is not to say that I always do things the same way all the time, especially honing.

Stropping from the top; heel down : left to right. going back up; starting on the toe: right to left. with the wrist straight, is my default (feels most regulated) mode. However, starting at the top, toe on the right side moving down to the left feels pretty good too. The other way feels more like a sawing motion as I hold the strop in my left. The wrist and forearm of the right are more parallel to the direction of movement.

So I have probably called such movements X strokes before, but both up and down are all parallel diagonals to keep it simple.

I think it's best to stick to X-pattern, heel to toe. It may not matter too much, but the barber's manual directs doing it this way, so you know it's worked well for many people.

One of my favorite strops was a vintage 2" shell with cutout handle (similar to the old apprentice strops of tony miller).

Originally Posted by kevint

I start on the down: heel to toe; and go up- toe to heel.

I've never given my stropping any thought and have always done heel to toe. I'll give this a try.

I've found this method (see diagram) to be very effective:



It's an X pattern, but with an arc.

Just something you might want to give a try. Oh, and you'd start the stroke with the point (toe) where the red line begins (the razor perpendicular to the strop or slightly angled opposite from the final position shown) then follow through, as diagrammed, with that arcing, or sweeping stroke as shown. Kind of like a wind shield wiper.

And, the razor doesn't fall off of the strop. You'd do your flip at about the spot where the diagram shows the razor resting at the end of the stroke, and then start the second stroke at the beginning of the other red line.

Hope that's not confusing.

I've been practicing with a narrow strop and find the heal-to-toe X pattern to seem natural. Just go slow on the change up because the lifting and/or sliding should be done carefully. Sometimes I go fast and don't get it right.