Thread: After honing stropping routine?

Aloha!

I follow the Howard Schechter minimalist methodology after honing. 10 round trips on the leather side of the strop. No CrOx or anything else. Well, maybe 12-15 if I'm feeling charitable, but 10 is what Howard does. At least that's what his Youtube video depicts.

Howard does one thing I do NOT do and can't bring myself to do. He runs his newly sharpened blade edge across the edge of the final stone to "take off the feathers" of the blade, then he hones 10 more round trips up-and-back on the finishing stone. I don't do this. I just can't bring myself to run the razor edge of my freshly honed blade across the corner of the stone, feathers or no feathers.

-Zip

If im testing a hone i do not strop before a test shave. I want to see how the edge feels off the stones. Then mid shave i strop 50 on leather and continue the shave. I then can feel how the edge improves with stropping. If it doesnt improve much then i readdress the hone.

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I'm another member of the excessive stroppers anonymous group-"Hi Aaron." I used to read what MrSell (Jerry, now deceased) had to say on the subject here and on Razor and Stone. Given good technique, it can't hurt, and (I believe) helps quite a bit if you're willing to accept diminishing returns after the usual 40-60 laps.

As I've been on my vintage shell kick lately, I've started stropping not only post honing, but after each stone in the progression just to burnish in the results from each stone, really just playing around to see what effect it has. Then I test-shave. For example, post Chosera 1k bevel set, strop maybe 30-40 on linen, then 50-60 on shell, and shave. Same after each side of the Norton 4/8k, Naniwa 12k, then Surgical Black Ark, PHIG or some combination of the two. This is practical for me as I don't hone for a living or do a lot of grunt work, just my usual ebay specials and rescales.

This slowed-down process of stropping and test-shaving after each stone has really taken my honing results at each stage to the next level, and taught me exactly what I should expect after each stone. I'm not advocating it for everybody (certainly not production honers who don't need it in any event), but IME, this experiment will take your honing to another level if you feel like you're stuck at the beginner/intermediate level of honing. I have gotten excellent, smooth shaves from every razor I have tried this on, even after the Chosera 1k, so it really teaches you to "max out" every hone, especially on the crucial bevel set.

Now once I'm "finished" after the Nani 12k hone/strop/shave, I do a final finish on the Arks or PHIG, then strop on a succession of linens from my vintage shells (maybe 20 each for a total of 60), then maybe 20-25 strokes each on a succession of leathers, finishing on my finest shell. Smoothest shaves I've ever gotten have come from this.

Vintage linen 50, horse butt strip leather 30-40.

I strop after each hone as well. Just by feel linen and leather to align the edge. After the finisher I do 50 Chalked Irish Linen,50 Dovo Russian XL, 50 vintage shell.


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Originally Posted by Wolfpack34

I had this discussion with Neil (God rest my friend!) more than a few times, and I am a fan of what he called progressive stropping. On a freshly honed blade I will strop 50 or so on linen and then 300-400 laps on a series of strops from heavy draw, to elegant, and then to very slick and fast draw finishing on a Horween Cordovan.

May seem excessive to many, but it works for me....

He had a multi-strop hanger system for that purpose. I came close to buying one twice, but I just could not justify the money. I sure regret that.

Off my Naniwa 12k, it's a leather paddle with 50k diamond, paddle with 100k diamond, maybe 10-30 laps each, then just a few on CrOx loaded felt before my normal SRD leather strop.

Originally Posted by Utopian

He had a multi-strop hanger system for that purpose. I came close to buying one twice, but I just could not justify the money. I sure regret that.

Would you please describe that system? Is it some sort of hanger arrangement or a carousel perhaps?

Thanks.

It was a hanger with 5 or 6 strops all right next to each other in a row in a leather smorgasboard. I never saved a picture of it and only ever saw it on his website.

Neil's method sounds like the Kanoyama canvas-suede-leather arrangement.

Cheers, Steve