Thread: Shaved without stropping after honing.

I shave straight off the hone when I am trying out a new hone from a new spot rockhounding. I do a simple prep, and lather with the same soap. It is to feel what the hone does to the edge and not how smooth it gets after stropping. It always gets better with stropping.

Originally Posted by RezDog

It always gets better with stropping.

And for that reason, and because stropping is a normal part of the shaving routine, I never skip stropping after honing.

Just wanted to see how it felt coming straight off the 12k. The irritation on my face was not really worth mentioning. Just trying to be completely honest. The neck irritation was noticable , but I've certainly had much worse.

IMO an unstropped edge isnt finished! The strop comes with the hone. I do 80 on vintage linen and 80 leather after a hone. I sometimes do that daily as well.

Of course it isn't finished. I'm not saying I'm not going to strop anymore. I just used it as a test to see how my honing was progressing in regards to getting a comfortable shave from a blade that I honed. As there really was little irritation, I felt positive about it. I wanted to experience the edge before I changed it by stropping.

Being able to shave from a stone without stropping doesn't really give any useful info IMO. YMMV of course. Many hones leave a slight microscopically tiny burr or wire - even if only in irregular patches along the blade - that gets wiped right off during even the first few strokes of stropping. Some stones more cleanly remove it than others. So for me at least, stropping is the finish step of the honing process, and I would no sooner shave with an unstropped razor than I would with an ink pen personally.

This is not the first time around for this topic. Unless I am experimenting with a new hone I always strop, but it is a very good experiment in edges. Of course if you only ever do it with one hone it has no comparative value and like so many things in this hobby we all have our own paths to walk.

Originally Posted by eKretz

Being able to shave from a stone without stropping doesn't really give any useful info IMO. YMMV of course. Many hones leave a slight microscopically tiny burr or wire - even if only in irregular patches along the blade - that gets wiped right off during even the first few strokes of stropping. Some stones more cleanly remove it than others. So for me at least, stropping is the finish step of the honing process, and I would no sooner shave with an unstropped razor than I would with an ink pen personally.

Wow. Maybe I'm having an issue with my edges and I'm trying to eliminate variables. Also I would think more irritation would occur with a wire edge, but I recognize I am relatively new at this. Also I only have one finisher at the moment so it would seem like a good time to familiarize myself with how a razor feels coming off it. Thanks for the responses guys. Now where did I put that ink pen.....