What is your personal "go to" baseline stropping routine after honing a fresh off the baking sheet razor? If you do it differently depending on the finishing stone please list that too? Thanks
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What is your personal "go to" baseline stropping routine after honing a fresh off the baking sheet razor? If you do it differently depending on the finishing stone please list that too? Thanks
This is an interesting question and I am keen to see what responses you get.
I personally am only at the refreshing a razor stage in my honing prowess. Once I have done that I have a CrOx loaded paddle strop which I do maybe 30 - 40 laps on. Then straight to my usual stropping routing. Roughly 20 laps on linen followed by about 60 on leather. Then shave. Incidentally my finishing stone is a Naniwa 12K.
I don't count strokes, and I don't really think about which strop I'll use. After finishing I use one of the two strops I have and stop until I feel like that's enough.
Strops are, SRD Latigo and a vintage Suntorbach with linen. No pastes just linen and leather.
Coming off the hone, my first step is to carefully wipe the blade. This is followed by 50 strokes on a lightly oiled newspaper strop. This helps to remove any remaining grit, steel, or edge foil in order to prevent their transfer to my leather strop.
I have one strop dedicated to being the post honing strop. It is cleaned far more frequently than any of my other strops.
I finish on a Naniwa 12K, then do 20 laps on a Crox sprayed strop felt hanging strop, wipe blade, doe 40 laps on English linen and 80-100 laps on a Shell strop. Don't use any other hones than Naniwas so this my only post honing routine. Not broke don't fix.
Bob
They get a quick wipe, typically with TP to get water off the blade. Then the same as routine daily stropping. 25 linen, 50 leather. Maybe a few extra if I lose count.
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....
I've been doing 3 finishing stones regularly and strop a little differently for each.
Naniwa 12k to diamond spray on my SRD webbing. Then 60 laps linen then at least 100 laps on leather.
Thuringian, no paste, 80 laps linen then at least 120 leather.
Coticulr, no paste, at least 100 laps on line and at least 150 leather.
What kind of process do you use with the oil and newspaper? Is there a video? Do you wrap the newspaper around some kind of hard surface like wood etc? What kind of oil do you use? Are you using X stropping strokes? Thanks, I am intrigued by this...Quote:
Originally Posted by Utopian
If it is from hone to strop I wipe the blade off good and strop linen/shell. If I use pastes I use a fine .10 micron FeOx and so skip the linen and just wipe the blade and go to the shell strop.
It's been interesting to see the responses so far. Gives me ideas. :tu
A bit new to the hones but...
From the hone I wash with water and dry, Synthetic stones I'll go to a cr0x 0.3 strop for 30 laps. If Natural stone then no cr0x. Cloth 30 laps and leather 120 laps. I count to 30 a few times. If its not as nice as I think it should be and I don't see an issue on the edge with the loupe, I might do another 120 laps on leather.
Off the hones, I go to linen, then progressively Latigo, Roo then Neil Miller fast leather. 50 or so on the linen, then no less than 100 on each of the leathers.
This is done on the Lipshaw and produces a very smooth edge
Thanks to Sharptonn
My name is Shaun and I am an excessive stropper.
Well not any more excessive than some of the others in this thread. My current routine is quite simple. !00ish on Hemp, 200ish on fine linen, 200ish on leather.
I used to got with cerium pasted felt, leaded leather, fabric and then leather, and that achieved some great results too. I vary my routine slightly but my current kick is the progressive fabric and leather. Stropping after the hones is as important as what finish hone to choose.
Welcome Shaun. The first step toward wellness is always admitting the problem... :rofl2:Quote:
Originally Posted by RezDog
My routine lately after the hones is 25/50-75 on linen/leather and then shave, I do have a paddle pasted with .5 CrOx and .25 diamond spray but don't use it much.
Wow rez. That is a lot of stropping. My arm might get tired before i got finished with your routine. Looks like i need a few more strops.
Typically after a full honing:
5 laps on CrOx on leather paddle, 5 laps on 50K diamond spray on leather paddle, 5 laps on 100K diamond spray on leather paddle, 5 laps on 200K diamond spray on leather paddle, then 100 laps on Heirloom horsehide. I like really shiny, crisp, Feather-like edges.
Touch ups are 5 laps on 200K diamond spray on hard felt then 60-80 on horsehide.
If that doesn't bring it back to where I want it, a 5 - 6 lap touch-up on my translucent arkie 'barber hone' by the sink, 40 on the linen, 60-80 on the horsehide.
Oh dude, it is not the problem, stropping is the solution.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfpack34
Absolutely!Quote:
Originally Posted by RezDog
Progressive.. 30 to 50 on each..
-1950 Linen Fire Hose
-1970 Linen Fire Hose
-SRD Steerhide
-SRD Roo
-Tony Miller Fast Bridal
-60000 Kanayama
-Crox on balsa
-Feox on balsa
-Palm Strop
... shave!
This is with a known finishing stone. When i was learning the finishing stones i have i would only do about 10 laps on a secondary component then 20 on leather and that's it..
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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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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfpack34
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.
Would you please describe that system? Is it some sort of hanger arrangement or a carousel perhaps?Quote:
Originally Posted by Utopian
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
The three Kanayama strops are just three strops attached together in the same manner as any standard linen/leather strop with one directly over the other. Neil's had 6 strops all hanging from one long bar with the strops all side by side and all visible and accessible independently. Using the entire series, you'd just start with the one on the left and work your way to the right.
After stones, usually 15-20 on a Crox paddle then double what my normal stropping routine is, so for me that's 50 linen and 100 leather
Thanks everyone who has posted so far!!! Lots of ideas to try out! Seems like there is something in common here....no one does the same routine lol!
Yep, just like honing and shave prep. Everyone does what works for them, and you'd be hard pressed to find two people doing it the same.Quote:
Originally Posted by dshaves
And trying out all of the different ideas is part of the adventure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marshal
That's what I was trying to get at, but somehow couldn't find the words. Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by kelbro
I do allways strop on linen (50 to 60 strokes) before checking the blade for keeness under microscope or via HHT test.
I believe that linen removes the remaining bur from the very apex which can affect the testing.
Before the first shaving i go for 70-90 strokes on the Kanayama leather.
Before regular shaving I do again strop on linen (20-30 strokes) and then go to the Kanayama for another 20-30s strokes.
Regards
Philipp