Thread: How's a Newb to Know?

stropping does not need to be complicated. If you do not worry about speed, and do not worry about the turn and simply lift the razor, turn it, and place it back on the strop you have nothing to worry about.

When i started, and I maintain this, that when you're starting out 15 or 20 really good laps are adequate and are most certainly preferable to 40 or 50 bad ones. The more laps you do, the greater the chance of mistake.

Concentrate on doing a few really quality passes and put the razor down until tomorrow.

All the above answers are good. But, I don't think we do a good job on SRP giving newbies quantitative help. All the above excellent suggestions don't get you very close to knowing whether your blade is sharp.

You should use the "modified HHT" to quantitatively know whether your blade is in the neighborhood of sharp. I say this even though I know I will be politely SRP version of flamed for this...

In the Hanging Hair Test, the focus is on the cutting of the hair. In what I am calling the "modified HHT", the focus is on the vibration of the hair. Don't worry whether the blade cuts the hair.

If you haven't used the HHT, read about it in the wiki.

If the end of the hair vibrates while slowly dragging it over the blade, you are in the vicinity of sharp. (You should hold the tip end of the hair, with the root sticking out from your grasping fingers.) Vibration of the end of the hair doesn't mean the blade is sharp. Just that you are close. The blade is sharp enough that it is dropping into the separations between hair follicles.

If it doesn't vibrate, try someone else's hair. Try several people's hair. But, the vibration of hair is a reasonably good quantitative test.

Now, the proviso...

The above might be very poor advice for you. Totally useless. This might be because the hair you use has very tight follicles with little gap between. Maybe, the hair is greasy. And, on and on. These anomalies throw many newbies off. And, these anomalies are why SRPites hesitate to stress the use of the HHT. And, I have sympathy for the difficulties in properly explaining the use of the HHT.

But, I think the above will help 9 out of 10.

So, try it...

If you don't see the hair vibrating as it drags slowly across the blade edge, it still doesn't mean the blade is not sharp. But, probably does. However, if the hair clearly is vibrating, I suspect the blade is in the vicinity of sharp, and you should concentrate for the time on technique.

All good advice above. Here are the points I pay attention to when I'm stropping:

1. Quality stop, pulled taught;
2. Razor flat on the strop, no pressure other than needed to keep it flat'
3. Level, even strokes, without concern for speed;
4. Never let the spine raise off the strop's surface.

I found Lynn's video very helpful but of course, as with any video, there's no opportunity for feedback on your own technique. When I started out, I asked my barber for advice. I spent a good deal of time with me demonstrating and watching my technique. His input was invaluable. And he was thrilled to be talking to someone who was interested interested. If you have a willing barber, go for it.