Thread: How often should you strop

I strop before every shave and a little after to dry the edge. I'll also strop after I touch the blade up on the hone, again to dry the edge before I put it away. I believe some folk strop between passes while shaving. To each their own.

I make 25-30 strokes on my Kanayama strop before each shaving. I think that's enough.

1) DO NOT strop your razor before your first shave. That's only because you just got it from honing, and the cutler/honemiester (in this case Lynn) stropped it before sending it to you.

2) I strop before every shave to give a fresh non-oxidized edge for me to shave with. I wipe my blade on a towel by pinching it with the towel wrapped around the spine to dry it after the shave, but you could strop instead. I strop 30x linen, and 50x leather before each shave.

The video that's been posted is a great one, and one of our community's best cutlers/honemiesters, Sham AKA hi_bud_gl

I'd encourage you to read this thread too for a full education on stropping:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ping-king.html

Best of luck on your new adventure!

Peace,
Jim

thank you for your suggestions. I have been shaving with it while my strop arrives. You have been very helpful

Thanks for the thread it has been very helpful.

Originally Posted by BigJim

1) DO NOT strop your razor before your first shave. That's only because you just got it from honing, and the cutler/honemiester (in this case Lynn) stropped it before sending it to you.

2) I strop before every shave to give a fresh non-oxidized edge for me to shave with. I wipe my blade on a towel by pinching it with the towel wrapped around the spine to dry it after the shave, but you could strop instead. I strop 30x linen, and 50x leather before each shave.

The video that's been posted is a great one, and one of our community's best cutlers/honemiesters, Sham AKA hi_bud_gl

I'd encourage you to read this thread too for a full education on stropping:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ping-king.html

Best of luck on your new adventure!

Peace,
Jim

Originally Posted by ebraz96

Thanks for the thread it has been very helpful.

Glad to be of help.

Peace,
Jim

My strop is leather on one side and kind of like sand paper on the other The 2nd strop is almost like a mesh. Can you tell me when to use which sides

I usually do so before and after each shave.

Originally Posted by Donboblo

My strop is leather on one side and kind of like sand paper on the other The 2nd strop is almost like a mesh. Can you tell me when to use which sides

It might help to know where you got your strop, but a good shop should be leather. (period) And then linen/denim/canvas/nylon something.

My regular stropping routine hasn't changed in the last four years (give or take) since I last posted in this page. Use the mesh strop every shave...I use 32 strokes...why 32...I don't know. 30ish seems to be best. There's no end to the debate here, but doing more than that doesn't seem to give me any benefit...less and my edges don't seem to stay as nice as long. So I strop on canvas every morning before my shave.

Then I strop on the leather (the smooth side not the flesh side of the leather) 53 strokes; every morning before every shave. Never use the other side for razors. Some wood workers use the flesh/sandpaper side for chisels and knives and I'm sure that means somebody out there uses that side for their razors, there's no need and some potential risk. 50ish strokes seems to be the most common and I've tried more and less but that seems to be what works best for me.

Peace,
Jim

I do 50 linen and 80 leather. No real reason, I guess it just works for me.