Thread: Stropping::: Very very very Important !!!!

Originally Posted by cessnabird

Great post, there can never be too many reminders of the importance of proper stropping. I can say from experience that I have changed my stropping style probably 3-4 times since first starting out. The more you do it, the more you realize you are doing something wrong, or applying too much pressure, etc. Practice, practice, practice!

...because when I review the video in the link above, and watch that guy strop his razor, I'm left with the impression that he's putting pressure on the blade, whereas I've read in numerous areas, you're not supposed to put pressure on the blade rather...you're supposed to let the blades natural weight fall on the strop and proceed with the stroke.

But when you hear the sound it makes when he's stropping, it leaves the impression that he's putting pressure on it. At least that's how I saw it.
I'm starting to think my stropping technique is incorrect; scratch that....I'm quite sure it is.

YMS lay your strop on the edge of a table and strop, this eliminates the "Droop" variable... See if that shows up as a better shave, if not then you eliminated one variable.. and you can continue from there...

Very useful thread. After almost two years of using a straight, I still pay very close attention to my stropping, never being quite sure I've done it correctly until I get a close shave. Thanks for the reminder.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

YMS lay your strop on the edge of a table and strop, this eliminates the "Droop" variable... See if that shows up as a better shave, if not then you eliminated one variable.. and you can continue from there...

I was actually thinking about doing that! Anyways, I'll give it a try for my next shave (which will be tomorrow morning) and I'll let you all know how it turned out.

Peace.

...I tried the table-top idea.

That seemed to help reduce the "droop variable" as you put it, however the handles at the end have these riveted buckles coupled with the fact that it's a double sided strop (so underneath it was the cotton side) and that caused a slight droop as well. Nothing major, but still.

As I was stropping, perhaps it was because my eyes were fixated closer on what I was actually doing (as opposed to just "going through the motions") I noticed a tendency of the edge of the blade lifting up.

This happened going back and forth. And this seemed to happen more when I was allowing the weight of the SR to be the only pressure I put on the blade. Then I tried a different approach. Using my right hand to sway the SR back and forth, I used my left hands index finger and middle finger (spread apart) to cover the top & bottom edge of the blade to ensure they were making contact with the strop, as I was stropping.

Keep in mind, I wasn't pushing it that hard; just hard enough to make sure it was making contact at least. Keeping in mind everything I saw on the video (The World of Straight Razor Shaving) and everything I read online, I didn't feel comfortable at first doing this because Lynn says to not put any pressure on the blade. But again....when I did it that way, the edge kept popping up along the strokes.

Doing it this way was definitely slower (much.....MUCH slower) but at least it made contact. As for the sharpness? Well it seemed to be sharper.

Then again...maybe I'm just thinking it made a difference doing it that way (the placebo effect, if you will).