Thread: post-honing strop (?)

still learning here...

it's not clear to me how to progress on to stropping once i have come to my conclusion that i have honed enough

i am beginning to feel that going straight to undressed leather stropping for maybe 10-20 rounds is correct. or am i off? is stropping post a hone likewise a process of gradually going from most coarse to least? i.e. should i be then going to green/red paste on the paddle strop and then on to the undressed leather? i know people will say "it depends", but i'm a newbie, i need direction.

also, i purchased some great razors off of ebay from a very nice guy who i emailed with to look for some advice. he claimed he never used the linen side of the strop. he went right from his stones to the undressed leather. should the linen side be part of a regular maintainence routine or only used after the blade seems to have dulled?

what process do you folks follow once you are done on the hones?

it depends which stone you're coming off of. If you're using something at least 8k then you should be able to strop and shave. Using pastes is only needed if you want a sharper/more refined edge (ie pastes are optional...icing on the cake) most would agree you should focus on getting a good edge directly off the hone before tampering with pastes. Leather isn't abrassive at all. it simply aligns the edge of the razor.

the jury is still out on where linen fits into the scheme of things. i use it post shave to dry the edge.

i finish on a 12k stone and then strop. I wasn't overly fond of pastes