Thread: Time between tune ups

No I think you remembered that correctly, as I've seen that claim too; but I've never understood that logic in it.

Common sense tells me when the shave is not optimal, when honing or stropping I look at the edge before and after with good magnification then determine what to do next.

Originally Posted by dewey81

Thanks for the replies. I've been trying to remember info I've read on here from a few years back. I vaguely recall reading something about the honing not being finished in the first place if the edge life is short. I could be misremembering...

Is it possible that with an 'unfinished' edge the edge is less even; i.e. more 'serrated'? I suggest an edge that is less even will break more readily than one which is even, but that's just a thought rather than any thing that I can prove...

More than likely it is your stropping. It can take a while to get stropping down, at least a year before you can really see where your stropping is improving an edge.

Most folks use too much pressure and if the edge is not fully honed or the steel is weak (for any number of reasons) the edge will fail.

Go slow, keep the spine on the strop at all times and use enough pressure to keep the edge and spine on the strop. Stop then flip.

As your stropping improves, so too will your edges and the edge life. 6 months to a year is very doable edge life with proper stropping, the proper stropping thing is the key.

I wondered if this might be the case, which is why I posed the question. Been at this for.....4 years now? So it's not like I'm an extremely seasoned vet by any stretch.

Do you feel comfortable stropping, or is it something you have to think about. When it becomes fluid and natural is when you are making progress.

Most experts agree, it takes 1000 repetitions to create a skill. But what they don’t tell you is it takes a thousand “perfect” repetitions, to perfect a skill. You see guys hacking at golf balls all the time, at the driving range, balls going in every direction, except straight. So what are they practicing? What “skill” are they developing?

For most, the stropping skill is a visual “Mental Memory” from the Movies, a guy (an actor) wildly slapping a razor to a leather belt. Recently I read an interesting book, “Deep Survival”, by Lawrence Gonzalez, Who lives, who dies, and why. A good read, by the way.

He says “When we learn something complex, at first you must think through each move. That is called Explicit Learning. As you gain more experience you begin to do the task less consciously. You develop touch, flow, timing – a feel for it. It becomes second nature, a thing of beauty. That is known as Implicit Learning. Implicit memories are unconscious.”

So, if your mental model of what stropping should look like is from the movies, you first have to overcome that pull and first, explicitly learn the proper way to strop.

Assuming you are doing 50 laps a day, how many of those laps are “perfect laps”? Assume you strop every day, 50X365 = 18500 laps approximately. Let’s say 10 percent were perfect, 1800 perfect laps in one year, there was some learning or re-learning, of imperfect laps and un learning involved so 1000, one year is really a doable number.
Now if you never got help, video, hands on instruction, coaching or just self-corrected, a year later your stropping may not be much better, more realistically you gave up and blamed it on the razor… No, that never happens….

So, if you stick to it, without coaching, it may be a year or more, before you are making consistent improvement is really possible. The first week you are doing damage, the first month (after repair) you do less damage, the first 6 months; you begin to do more good then damage. After a year you are improving the edge consistently. As said some hands on coaching will dramatically improve your skill and shorten the learning time.

Recently I was discussing this with a new guy, he said… “So, I’m standing there alone in my bathroom, holding a freaking straight razor in my hand, a sharp, expensive straight razor. Pulling on a brand new, expensive leather strop, trying to keep it from flexing and thinking I’m going to cut this expensive leather strop and ruin my razor, I’m thinking don’t use too much pressure, keep the spine on the strop, go slow, I’m holding a freaking straight razor in my hand…

Do you think he had a mental memory of stropping?

Yea, stropping matters… a lot.

That was a great explanation. I do feel comfortable stropping is the thing. Obviously my technique might not be correct and I might just be comfortable with a bad technique haha. I will say this. Ever since we moved I haven't made a place to hang my strop,I've just been laying it flat on the sink and stropping that way. I assumed that wouldn't hurt anything?

I only strop pre and post strop which would equate to roughly 80-160 depending on if I shave once or twice a week. 60 pre and 20 post.

Just loop a shoelace or 18 inch piece of paracord around the d ring or clasp, then loop the lanyard around you doorknob with the door open. It will put the strop at waist height.

Ooh that's a nice trick. I'll have to do that. Thanks!

One thing I will throw out there is the next time you feel the need to touch up the edge try doubling or tripling the amount of laps you do stropping and see if that brings the blade back up to snuff