Quote Originally Posted by JimmyHAD View Post
I used to put little nicks in my strop at the hand held portion towards my body. I fasten my strop at door knob height and I'm 5'9" with a 30" inseam to give you an idea of those logistics. IOW, at my height it is about waist high. I used to hold the tang between the thumb pad and the first joint of my fore finger where the bend is. Reading threads and barber manuals I changed my hold to between the thumb pad and the tip/pad of my fore finger. Once I got that hold/flip down the little cuts/nicks in the strop went away. I also kind of cradle the scales with my middle, ring, and little finger. Almost no pressure, just barely supporting the scales while I'm doing the flip. This may help you as it did me ...... or maybe it won't but either way .....
I can identify a lot with what you're saying. Ironically I fasten my strop at door knob height and I'm 5'9". Ironically my stropping has improved the last couple of times as a result of reading this thread. One reason why I think stropping is a pain is because it is a forgotten technique in the learning curve. For the past couple of years I've asked like crazy for help on other aspects of shaving but before this thread don't recall ever asking anyone for help with stropping.

Probably as a result of studying this thread I have held the razor more securely by the scales so that the scales are closer to the palm of my hand. That has enabled me to flip the razor with authority without fear of dropping the thing. I am still extremely slow. Another thing is that I had the notion that you had to strop fast to get the benefits of stropping and for that reason I tried to rush it. Unfortunately the only way I can rush is to bend the wrist like crazy. So I'm feeling a lot better about it, although it's hard to picture me doing it quickly. But it is probably like learning the straight shaving in that you can't do something you want to do for a long time and then all of a sudden one day you can.