Thread: Old Norwegian barber strops VERY VERY quickly

Just take a look at 2:54
What do you think?

Looks like he knows what he's doing. I don't think the speed makes a difference, good or bad, if you have the control. Then again, maybe he's saying otherwise and I just can't understand.

He is indeed saying otherwise Dylan

He basically says that speed is of the essence. Without it you are wasting time.
He furthermore denies to believe that the fine side of his strop is doing any good on a razor.
The rough side is all that matters, in his opinion.
"You can probably get some effect from the fine side, if you use paste on it"

His preference is fabric, such as linen, not leather.

From what I understand this Gentleman is a trained barber.
He was a barber for a few years in the 70's.
A couple years back he started his own barbershop where he offers shaves with proper straights, if desired, with the clients own razor.

Yes, what he says about speed is that you have to get the razor warm for it to have effect. Also extreme pressure, even what he calls light pressure is much more forceful than what most people use. He mentions that the leather is only for "French ground" razors. He doesn't say it here, but he maintains that french ground razors are certain types of Solingen blades.
At the end he says he has cut through heavy packing cardboard with a razor then used the method on linen he demonstrates to bring it back to shave ready.
He rarely uses stones and does not use pastes.

regards,
Torolf

Originally Posted by TM280

He mentions that the leather is only for "French ground" razors.

Just a clarification; what he refers to as french ground razors are in fact wedges, as opposed to hollow grounds.


(link to norwegian forum where he clarifies)

Thanks for that, it makes sense with what he claims for different stropping styles. I was confused because what he showed me recently, and called French ground, was absolutely not something I would call a wedge.

regards,
Torolf

He is trolling... Video speeds up when he strops, and what he is saying doesen't make mutch sense

Just discovered this old post :-)

Robert Aarberg (That's the barbers name) has posted some more videos in Youtube.....unfortunately only in norwegian and without subtitles, so only us Scandinavian people can understand what he i saying.

But...he has a no-nonsence approach to this topic that I really like. I have been using a straigt razor exclusively for the past 3 years. For more than a year I have had no need to hone the razor. It still passes HHT with flying colours, and I use it every single day.

There is nothing magical about the razor. It's an ordinary Dovo Best Quality, and I don't expose it to Black magic or anything. I just strop it as fast as I can on linnen with a good amount of pressure. I do however also use the leather strop afterwards.

I don't know the science behind it.....and I'm sure, that at some tine in the future I'll have to hone the razor (I hope, because honing is fun :-)).

All I can say is that this Works for me :-)

/Bjarke

An old thread, and quite surprising this is your first post after being a member for 2 years. I am a firm believer in the power of the strop, have a couple of razors with 70+ shaves on them using just leather. Basically got bored with the experiment, but I am convinced with enough knowledge and experience that number could easily hit the hundreds.

You're right, I'm not the most active member on this forum. Sorry about that :-).

I usually find myself not posting replies because I rarely have anything really new to add to the discussions.

In this case however, I'm wondering why it seems to be the general assumption that you have to hone your razor regularly, when I do not need to do that.....even after more than 250 shaves. And I'm no "master stropper" at all :-).