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I've read more than a few posts where one of the seasoned members say that starting out you will cut up your first strop pretty bad...
I'm curious if this is due to accidentally leading with the edge and/or turning on the edge at the end of a stroke when you're still learning your stropping technique?
Or is there some way you could damage the strop even with the blade trailing and turning on the back at the end of your stroke?
Just when I thought I'd got the hang of it, I forgot to flip the razor. *zzzzzzt* *ding* Heavy cursing ensued.
stropping is a reflex it will take time to learn. This doesn't mean you have to go buy bad strop and wait until yo learn how to strop. Person just can take anything and train himself how to strop and then buy a good strop. As soon as your hand gets used to strop you will be safe. just exercise on something else first.Check this person how he train himself to learn strop .
http://straightrazorpalace.com/newbi...-practice.html
hope this helps.
It was turning the razor over at the end of a stroke that did it every time for me. Eventually I practiced just turning the razor one way and then the other while it was on a newspaper on my knee and finally got the hang of it.
It will come along ans you practice more. I didn't get more than two minor nicks, then it becomes a distant memory as you move forward. That strop is still in business and will last years.
Pabster
I'm sure I'll get it with practice and i plan on practicing with a simulated strop, I was just curious if it was possible to cut the strop even with proper blade positioning.
Follow up question: I see the preference around here seems to be red Latigo leather. any reason red is preferred over black or is the color purely aesthetics?
When the edge is sharp, it can happen. Some of us are just not as smooth as we think.:)
Color, Red vs. other, personal preference - thats all.
Good Luck!
Pabster
The traditionalist in me made me order a Red Latigo strop from SRD. It left the USA last week so I'm curious about how long customs will hold onto it ...
The first big cut on my strop happened when I started to think I was getting good at stropping, hence you increase your speed and dont turn the razor in time and the leading edge now is the blade and slice.
One alternative is to buy a cheap ebay razor and make sure its dull and practice away. Takes a few weeks to get the reflex down pat after that your strop has a change of living a long and happy life.
Crom
The razor can't stop. And on the flip it has to be consistently moving in the correct, spine leading direction. Its like making a car do a U-turn backwards. Your intuition tells you to stop half way around.
The razor has to continue moving spine forward even as you flip.
I'm not sure myself, I never had this problem myself, and I never found stropping to be that arcane of a skill.
I find that while I am learning, I try to not let myself go too fast. All of the nicks on my practice strop are from going too fast while I am learning. It seems that the nicks become more scarce as time passes.
From all the advice here stropping seems like muscle memory. Easier to learn how to do it right then try to fix bad stropping. :)
Since I won't give any advice, being a newb I can't. I haven't nicked mine in the 5 months I've been shaving.
Practicing on the strop with a regular butter knife is another technique I have seen recommended her often.
I've been using a butter knife on my forearm, trying to get the flip down. Now that I have my practice strop I'm not doing to bad with the butter knife on it. Hopefully when my blade gets here, I'll be fairly decent.
Most of my strop nicks have come from the razor flipping itself half way through the stroke. It must have had something to do with my grip and perhaps too much pressure on the strop. I have also scratched the strop by drawing too wide an 'X' with a spike tip. That's just me.
X
I took a little chunk out of mine when I finished my stroke and acidently let go of the strop a little to get a better grip :gaah:
also a few nicks from going too fast when flipping the razor
some people are naturals some are not everybody improves w/ practice though.
I got a couple on mine. I think I got them from flipping before shifting gears. Luckily it's on a filly and not on something more expensive. I'm going to build a 3" horsehide and canvas strop so hopefully I get it down before that.
Be deliberate and even in your strokes as you're building skill and you'll do fine. Always use a trailing edge and you won't harm your strop.
The biggest problem with new guys cutting up strops comes from trying to strop to fast and from letting their attention lapse in the middle of a stroke.
If you keep an even stroke with little pressure and the blade flat on the strop you should do fine. Always turn the strop on the spine. Try not to life up at the end of strokes. It is a fairly simple thing, but like much else here, take a few extra minutes every day and practice. More times than not the new guy will nick up the sides of the strop instead of cutting through it.
Lynn
Before I even start, any advice from the experts as to a good height to secure the end of the strop. Should the strop be level when pulled tight or should the secured end be higher than the end I grip.
The question has probably been answered many times but I'm a noob..
Cheers
miner,
The strop attachment height is a matter of personal preference. --Lotsa help, huh?
A reasonable start may be to take some strong string, or a shoe lace, or a leather thong type thing and fasten it to a door knob which will be about 3', or a meter for the rest of the world, and strop away. Old barber chairs had the strop attached at about that height or a bit lower, so the stroke away went downhill and the stroke back was uphill.
I have my strops hanging from a cleat on my bathroom wall which is about 42" or elbow height from the floor. (Actually the hooks in the cleat are exactly 42" from the floor, but that's carpenter OCD for you...) This way the strop is almost horizontal when I pull it taut; this configuration works well for me, but when travelling and I've brought a hanging strop, rather than the little Thiers Issard travel paddle, I loop the loop around a door knob and strop away, and that works just fine too. It's really not that fussy.
good luck, good shaving,
Now that I've been at this for a bit I figured I'd update this thread with and answer to my own question. Even after practicing on newspaper for days before using my strop...
First off Lynn was right. You break your focus or try to go faster than you're prepared and I can easily see you doing damage to your strop.
Secondly; and this could be categorized under going too fast. If you keep momentum of your strop stroke as you turn the blade. Even though you turn it on the spine, if you're still moving that blade at the end of the turn you just made a strop stroke into a hone stroke.
...learning muscle memory sucks sometimes.
I was pretty arrogant when I first started stropping, thinking that it was child's play, and I was more than coordinated enough to do such a simple thing without nicking/cutting/slicing my strop.
I ordered a replacement leather from SRD two days ago.
I'd still be on my first strop if I would have listened to the guys here.
lol in rowing 50% of our sport is learning muscle memory so basically that helps me in a lot of things in life- I learn by practicing and then I can pretty much do it without thinking- not with stropping though. Maybe now, but thats what I thought at first and I got a pretty big nick on my Illinois. Though this could be a chicken/egg situation- I nicked it while practicing to get more speed, so....
Moral is go slowly, no matter how good you think you are.
2 ways I managed to do it: one large nick due to the razor somehow slipping in my hand. Very tiny nicks at the very ends of the strop by flipping the razor too early. This effectively results in edge leading for a bit. This happens when I adjust the blade-scales angle when stropping a razor with a less than tight pivot pin.