Thread: Going to give this one more shot...Strop help?

OK, so ive only had one cut (had a small bump i wasnt careful enough with) the few times ive shaved, and im comfortable with the razor and handling. im a knife guy, what can i say...

but the thing that KILLS me is i cant get used to stropping to save my life. currently im NOT using a hanging strop, but one thats meant to be on a board that the gentleman i got the razor from sent along. i can do "fine" if i lift and turn the blade (keep in mind im either doing this on my lap or the coffee table. and yes, i know this is less than ideal.) and im not rolling the edge at the ends, but i know its wrong.

problem with this is, im afraid to buy an actual hanging strop because ive sunk so much into this already and im not sure ill even be able to strop properly if i get one. this is the one thing that is putting me off a SR, and has me leaning towards a Safety.

ive watched videos on how to spine roll, read stuff but it just doesnt feel natural. not to mention i remember seeing barbers strop when i was growing up and saw them do the same thing i do (probably rolling the edge tho) but much faster.

tips? help? etc?

save me from myself!

I don't know how long you have been practicing but it don't happen over a couple of weekends. Slow deliberate strokes forcing your hand to make the correct motion repeated will eventually give you muscle memory and then it becomes easy.

The most difficult part for me was learning to turn the razor over with the last three fingers of the hand. The thumb and forefinger do more guiding and gliding than turning and flipping. Once you get the fingers doing the "strop spin" without any thinking on your part the rest just happens. IT isn't a natural movement anymore than spinning nickels. I am clumsy on good days and dangerous the rest of the time but after about 3 months of practice it is a piece of cake now. Someone with normal hands should be able to master it much more quickly.

It just keeps getting better. Don't give up.

I found it easier to so the spine roll at first when the stropping surface was higher relative to my body. I was trying to strop at waist level, but when I sat on the floor and stropped on a surface that was shoulder level I found the finger movements MUCH easier. Once I started to do it smoothly, I slowly started practicing stropping at progressively lower and lower heights.

how, exactly, are you stropping right now? if your method wont damage the edge and trying to change it will scare you off then theres no real harm in continuing with what works. Sounds like you have to lift the whole razor off the strop to do the "flip." Is this right? This method can be troublesome if you don't make a point to lift the edge before lifting the spine and I think it makes it hard to pick up speed with stropping further down the road...

also, I assume youve seen this? If not, it may help...
Straight Razor Place - Stropping Video

+1 on Alan's video. And the issue of height, although it didn't seem to bite me as hard as it has others. Another popular bit of advice is to practice with a butter knife. Take some of the "edge anxiety" out of the equation.


That being said, staying with a paddle strop isn't a bad thing, and it's not like you'd be the first person to use one exclusively. Murphy's Rule of Combat #7; "If a plan is stupid, but works, it's not stupid."

get the hanging strop and +50 to this don't come over a few weekends. I'm a knife guy also. That means squat to str8 shaving. Get the knife thing out of your head. start this with the mentality of a new hobby. Youj will learn faster.
The hanging strop was way easier for me to learn then the paddle or table one. still trashed a few in the learning curve.
IMHO

Paul

im a knife guy as well and i know at first it can be hard to get the body to do what you know it should be doing but it just dont work. the butter knife is great practice and if you dont wanna mess up a good strop either way a simple piece of strap of any kind or a leather belt will work great for this. ive never used a padle strop so i cant say anything about them at all, good or bad but one thing i do know is that there is no way i can strop with my strop hanging low i have to have it at chest hight. but i dont mind there is no rule book on how to do somthing. any way you can do it to get good results is fine. look at lynn the guy honed way different than people had done before and his methods work great. all im saying is theres more than one way to skin a cat. find your groove and practice thats all i do. and i am no pro yet lol to say the least.

Originally Posted by igga

I found it easier to so the spine roll at first when the stropping surface was higher relative to my body. I was trying to strop at waist level, but when I sat on the floor and stropped on a surface that was shoulder level I found the finger movements MUCH easier. Once I started to do it smoothly, I slowly started practicing stropping at progressively lower and lower heights.

how, exactly, are you stropping right now? if your method wont damage the edge and trying to change it will scare you off then theres no real harm in continuing with what works. Sounds like you have to lift the whole razor off the strop to do the "flip." Is this right? This method can be troublesome if you don't make a point to lift the edge before lifting the spine and I think it makes it hard to pick up speed with stropping further down the road...

also, I assume youve seen this? If not, it may help...
Straight Razor Place - Stropping Video

Totally agree. I'm still a newb and I hang my strop from a towel rack that is almost chest high. I hold it with my left hand at a about the level of just above my belly button. Check out the video at "The Superior Shave" It helped me some.

Being a newb myself, I have my strop set about chest high as well. When I first started stropping, I was holding the razor on the far end of the tang, closest to the scales and I found I just couldn't rotate/control it well. I later moved my fingers all the way to where the stabilizer of the blade is and I found I could rotate it much faster and easier if my fingers where there, try that. I do recommend a hanging strop, if you go slow, you won't nick it. The only time I nicked mine was when I got the urge to speed up when I wasn't supposed to. Also, you can practice on the linen side before venturing onto the leather side.

The best height for me to hang a strop is halfway between my navel and my nipples. This gives me a comfortable stroke that feels fairly natural to the elbows and wrists.

Something I've done with a paddle strop is put the handle end on a counter and support the wide end in my off hand. That allows it to rock the way a hanging strop is free to. I agree with the original post that a stropping surface laying flat on a leg, a tabletop, or a counter feels unnatural. I agree that it's hard to get a good motion going relative to that position.

Take your time and practice your x strokes. I had the same issues but you will get in time.