Thread: Stropping feels like its going to get expensive

So this afternoon I just did my second straight razor shave. That part went okay, a couple of tiny nicks on my face, but no big deal.

But stropping is turning out to be way harder than I anticipated. I have a SRD strop, and having stropped twice now I am in need of a new leather piece. I have nicked it at least a half a dozen times.

I really have a problem keeping my hand steady when flipping the razor over, and I end up moving it the wrong way when I fist place the razor against the strop.

I also have a very inconsistent stroke, which isn't terribly surprising I guess, since I've been doing it for all of 48 hours, but it is frustrating.

I've read the wiki and watched all the stropping videos I could find, but it looks like I am going to have a pretty long learning curve on this one.

How many strops did you guys go through while learning to do it proficiently?

Everyone nicks their strop now and again. If I bought a strop for every time I nicked one I would be neck deep in strops and stone broke.

Lets see some pictures so that we may advise you.

Don't worry too much about the nicks. As JMS notes, every strop is going to get a few. As long as they are not gouges in the leather you can sand them out with some fine sandpaper.

As for stropping...Try practicing your technique with a butter knife or some other non-sharp knife from your kitchen. That should help you learn/develop the feel for proper stropping technique.

I have a total of 10 nicks on my first strop, none overly detrimental to the razor or the strop. I bought that strop about 15 years ago now. My advice is to take it real slow, practise stropping like your practicing Tai Chi. Once you have the flow of movements starting to take hold in your memory and muscles, slowly build up the speed.
When I started I had nothing to learn from, no You-Tube, no SRP, no old barbers. All I had was the memory of some old black and white cowboy movie barbers stropping (Not the best example of correct technique). From that I was able to take it slowly (after intially going flat out with bugger all tension on the strop) and learn using a bit of common sense and observation of the causes of a couple of nicks when I got over confident.


Mick

Originally Posted by JMS

Lets see some pictures so that we may advise you.

I suppose I should have thought of that one. Here you go!





Sorry about the poor quality of my pictures. My camera does not do very well up close.

Put the spine down first then start moving just before the edge contacts the strop.
Start the flip well before you reach the end of the strop & change direction as the edge begins to land. You should be able to practice that slowly without any hesitation cuts.

I'm with MickR on this one: take it slow and easy.
The "butterknife" idea is good, too.

May I suggest:
1) position the razor on the strop, making sure that
the edge is in full contact
2) make the stroke, using very light pressure on the
edge....and STOP
3) flip the razor over, and repeat #1...STOP again
4) the idea is, don't move the razor until it is
properly positioned...then do the stroke.

The stroke itself can be fairly rapid, as long as even,
light pressure is maintained. Just make a conscious
effort to STOP at the end of the stroke, before
flipping. Don't move until the position is "good".

Good luck. And BTW, I trashed my first strop, too,
so don't feel too bad.

I like Onimaru55's idea, too.

Either way, it takes concentration and practice....
lots of practice.

I'm still new at this and have a few nicks to prove it. The problem I have is that when I stop at the end to flip it over, I tend to put the brakes on too hard and pull the razor back just a hair. I had to slow the whole process down and really concentrate. It is getting easier each day. I can talk to the wife as I shave, but must have complete silence when stropping. Take your time and you will get it.

I also found stropping much harder than it looks. after one week my strop was just mangled to bits. I fixed it but I think its beyond repair now since some of the gouges took chunks off the edge when i tried to repair it.

anyway I figure its better to hack the strop to pieces rather than my face