Thread: Question on stropping

I have not shaved with a straight in 10 years, although I have used a feather razor for the past 10 years. My wife bought me a razor and 3' latigo strop from SRD which are both beautiful. She also bought me a 4000/8000 norton (which was from classicshaving).

I have shaved with the razor three times and the experience has been incredible all three times. But in between shaves, I only strop the razor 12 times on the leather strop. I have not used the the webbed strop. Is 12 times enough? I don't want to overstrop (which is apprently what I used to do years ago and ruined some pretty straights). Also, should I be using the webbed strop? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

On a side note, the merchandise from SRD is incredible. The razor was truly shave ready and the first shave was worth the entire price of admission alone (made my feather razor seem like nonsense). The strop is also a thing of beauty.

Welcome back! You'll want to do 30 or so strokes on the linen (webbed) side, followed by 60 on the smooth leather prior to shaving. A number of folks also give their SR 10 strokes on the linen after cleaning and drying the razor. This can remove any moisture (evil moisture) that you may have missed.

In the 1980s a barber told me,"you can over strop a razor." Since coming to SRP I now know that that is not true. You can improperly strop a razor and roll the edge but one miscue can do that.

I would do 30 on the webbed fabric followed by 30 on the leather. I also do another 20 on the leather following the shave, after rinsing and wiping the blade with a tissue. I feel this removes micro gunk from the bevel. So far this routine has been giving me fine results.

It seems that the most common regimen is 25 on fabric, followed by 50 on leather. If your technique is sound, it is impossible to over-strop. I was also taught to do another 25 on the fabric post-shave, but that's a hotly debated topic. For me, learning how to strop correctly was more difficult than learning how to shave. So, just stick with it, it's one of the most important aspects of straight shaving-- definately worth learning to do correctly.

Originally Posted by jehesq1

I have not shaved with a straight in 10 years, although I have used a feather razor for the past 10 years. My wife bought me a razor and 3' latigo strop from SRD which are both beautiful. She also bought me a 4000/8000 norton (which was from classicshaving).

I have shaved with the razor three times and the experience has been incredible all three times. But in between shaves, I only strop the razor 12 times on the leather strop. I have not used the the webbed strop. Is 12 times enough? I don't want to overstrop (which is apprently what I used to do years ago and ruined some pretty straights). Also, should I be using the webbed strop? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

On a side note, the merchandise from SRD is incredible. The razor was truly shave ready and the first shave was worth the entire price of admission alone (made my feather razor seem like nonsense). The strop is also a thing of beauty.

Lucky bastard! If I had a wife like yours...

Thanks guys for the advice. My only other question is when you say 25 times on webbed side do you mean 25 times back and forth (50 total) or just 25 total (13 one way and 12 coming back)?

Yes I am very thankful for my wife's generousity, but it was a Christmas present and the amount i spent on her would have both me at least a few Mastro Livi's .

So far I am so happy to be using a traditional straight again (actually it is fantastic). I liked the feather a lot but always felt like it was a fake shave (and it was so unforgiving). I just hope my shoddy stropping doesn't ruin the new razor.

I also always bought "shave ready" razors when I used to use a tradtional. I realize now they were not actually shave ready. I also thought stropping sharpening the blade, so as you can see, I never had a chance.

Oh and another thing I do (which is probably stupid) i I actually use a blow dryer on the razor after I am done wiping it down. I only use it for about 30 seconds on a low setting. I just get nervous there's still moisture inside the scales that will cause pitting/rusting. My last dovo rusted terribly because I never dried it off.

Not stupid, you're just cautious with your new baby, although my money is on the hair dryer going when you settle in.

I find it amusing to see Junior members of our vintage, but I am simple.

Thanks again guys for the advice. It is greatly appreciated.