Thread: Newbie needs help

You've gotten great advice here. The onl thing I can add is that a we had a stropping experiment here a while back which demonstrated that stropping after shaving in addition to before did not improve the edge. It also demonstrated that 60 round trip strokes were better than 30 and that no improvement was achieved by going to 75. You can find posts on it under "the great experiment."

So, my advice woould be: strop before you shave (you can use a linnen strop first if you find it helps), and increase the strokes to at least 45.

WHen you find that the sharpness after stropping deteriorates a little, do a few light strokes (5) on a fine hone, like a swaty, to refresh the edge. If you keep the edge at peak sharpness this way, you may be able to avoid honing indefinitely.

Joe:

Regarding the stropping (60 laps ) before shaving:

If you had a routine of stropping 30 laps before and after shaving would that be equivalent?

Or do they have to be done all at once?


Forgive me if this seems like a dumb question but I was amazed to learn that the micro-serrations heal with time. Maybe this is counter intuitive as well.

Thanks
Bob