Thread: Stropping questions

Welcome to the world of str8 razor shaving and to SRP!

I have felt instead of linen, doesn't matter if felt/canvas/linen, but do 20-25 on felt then 50-60 leather before each shave. Some guys strop before and after they shave, usually about 10-20 on linen/canvas/felt. Stropping after shaving helps to clean and dry the edge. Personally, I strop (2-3 passes) with damp wash cloth on counter top, run hot water over the blade then strop (3-4 passes) on dry towel.

How often between honing varies depending on beard toughness and blade care, could be 1-6 or more months. A paddle strop with balsawood pasted with Chromium Oxide can be used for touch ups when blade starts to pull and will lengthen time between honing.

Welcome! A barber's hone, which you can use every now and then when the blade feels a little dull, will also dramatically increase time between honing. Many (myself included) use it along with a CrOx strop. There's more info in the wiki/library about both as well as in the honing thread. I strop before each shave, 30-40 on fabric and 60-80 or so on leather. After shaving, I also go 20 on the fabric of 30 on leather--mostly to make sure all is dry as well as to keep the blade in something of a state of readiness. BTW: After the post shave stropping, if I'm going to put the blade away. I make sure it's dry and use a little mineral oil on a q-tip to coat and protect it

I strop before every shave. Well, since I'm a morning shaver, I actually strop at night so that my razor is ready to go in the morning.

Between honings, that depends on your technique and your stropping. I did a short experiment before Christmas, and got 35 shaves out of my Shumate Barber before I touched it up. That was just with normal stropping. It was pretty fun, so I'll pick another razor shortly and do the same thing.

How many shaves before honings also depends on one's edge preferences, the type of razor you have and how familiar you are with shaving with it. I have one razor that needs honing after a couple dozen shaves and another that hasn't needed a honing in a year and a half of almost daily use.

I'm new to this, so I have a ton of questions. Still reading around. It seems strange to me to use the rough side of the strop to touch up the blade. You sharpen from coarse to fine and then strop on the canvas then leather. The canvas seems more coarse than the 8000, or 12000, or whatever stone was last used. Am I mistaken? I'm not sure what I am missing here.

Originally Posted by mj477

I'm new to this, so I have a ton of questions. Still reading around. It seems strange to me to use the rough side of the strop to touch up the blade. You sharpen from coarse to fine and then strop on the canvas then leather. The canvas seems more coarse than the 8000, or 12000, or whatever stone was last used. Am I mistaken? I'm not sure what I am missing here.

The same goes for stropping as for honing.
From coarse to fine.
And no, a Linen, canvas or webbed fabric is not even close to a 12K.
It is much finer, read that as softer, than most any hone you could possibly find.

The canvas side isn't really abraisive. It doesn't really remove metal like honing does. It's more for helping to straighten the edge.