Thread: Stropping on a flat surface? Possibility of messing up?

Hi All,

Hopefully my newly sharpened straight razor by Josh should arrive any day now. (this is the outcome of that other post where i brought it to a cutlery store)

My question, I have a Tony Miller strop. If I lay it flat, and strop the blade totally flat and slow, is there any way in the world to mess up the blade?


Have a great day and God bless.


-kelly

Yes. You can finish the flip before you reverse directions. You can bring the edge down while the razor is stopped, or stop the razor while the edge is down. You can forget to flip the razor before reversing. You can lift the spine while stropping. You can use too much pressure.

Kelly,

Mparker is right, but it's not as likely as it sounds. Laying the strop flat would work OK. Just don't press down and remember to flip the razor on its spine, not the edge. Take it really slow and make sure the spine doesn't come off the leather during the stroke.

If you're very worried about it, you might consider skipping the strop for your first shave. I did test shave with it, but I did about 2/3 of a pass--not a full shave. It should be OK without stropping. Proper stropping would, of course, make it better.

Hope it works for you,
Josh