Thread: Stropping only on pasted strops

When you strop with pastes you tend to round the edge. It is still effective but you will reach a point where you will not get very many shaves out of a stropping. When I first started I had my razor honed and bought a 8EE diamond plate and a 4 sided paddle and had 2.0,1.0,0.5, and 0.25 micron pastes. Worked very well and I could keep a blade going for almost a year but eventually one has to reset the bevel if you want a really a keen edge that will hold up. I then bought a 16K Shapton and started giving my razors a final stropping of 0.5 Green Chromium for about 6 strokes and eliminated the 1.0 paste. What I found is that now I was able to get a longer lasting blade and smoother shave. I think the 16K, which is 1.0 micron, let the blade keep its bevel better before going to the pastes. I now only have to drop back to a Coticule for about 10 strokes and work up with very few stokes on each step. Seems like this is happening about every 3 months or so. I may be to particular with the sharpness and smoothness of my razors but to each his own.

I am sure others with more experience will weigh in but the important thing is to use something that works for you. I have found for the money the 4 sided strop was cost effective and worked very well for me when I was a total noob.

Take care,
Richard