Shave ready razor. Strop first ?

Hello All,

Another wierd question. When I get a shave ready razor from say Billy or Lynn, do I have to strop it first ?, and if yes approx how many passes ?.

Silly question but I'd rather get all the info first so as to have the best benchmark to start with.

Gary

10-15 passes on linen and 20 on leather. After the shave, do 8-10 on linen and 15 on leather before stashing away the razor. The best time to do this is while you're letting the lather soften up the hair.

Gary,

I bought a razor from Lynn and he told me that
it wouldn't need to be stroped before the first
shave. Starting out though I would strop before
lathering. Take your time and go slow. Also
make sure that you do not lift the spine off
the strop, this will roll the edge making it
impossible to shave with.

So go slow, there isn't an award for fast stroping.
As time goes on, your stroping will go faster and
you will be able to strop after lathering. But don't
rush it.


Terry

Thanks Terry,

I will go slowly, I've no intention of doing it like a professional barber.

I'm currently honing a piece of junk for practice and I'm going slow and keeping the spine on the stone.

Thanks

Gary

Hello Gary,

My experience with a shave ready edge from Lynn or Tony Miller is that the razors are in fact shave ready. Try the hanging hair or the standing arm hair test before stropping. My hunch is that all will be ready for your first shave.

I remain &c

LG Roy

It has been my experience that a shave-ready blade may still need to be stropped before use as the properties of the steel and how it was forged could, I said could, change the direction of the microserrations so that they become fanned out, for lack of a better term. I remember reading a post from Randy Tuttle that described (not verbatim here) how the properties of steel can change and return to their normal state, the state that it was in before it was heated and forged and whatever else is done to it before it becomes a razor. A member here complained that a hanging-hair-cutting razor cut well and the same razor 12 hours later could not pass the HHT even though it hadn't been used. Randy had explained to him the properties of metal which I clumsily described.

-Rob

Gary,

Go ahead and strop. Even if it doesn't need it, it can't
hurt a thing. And if it did need stroping..... then you
will never know that it did..... :D


Terry