Quote Originally Posted by Chrisl View Post

Our shaving world is desperately lacking a detailed step by step close up tutorial on STROPPING. It may sound crazy, but I think someone could easily put out a tutorial on stropping alone that could fill up an hour of time (different types of strops, pastes, proper technique, care of strops, repair of strops, making of strops, etc). A proper stropping tutorial to me would have extreme close-ups, and accurate sound to illustrate the sights, the sounds and the smells (A little Spinal Tap reference there) of stropping.

I have two suggestions at this point: 1) Spend time very carefully honing with the weight of only the blade or extremely light pressure using only the 8000 side at this point and see where that gets you. This is bucking the pyramidic trend, but you'll be practicing your technique while avoiding the potential for just grinding down your edge going back and forth from the 4000/8000. Try even hundreds of passes on the 8000 side, checking the edge every 25 passes or so. Take your time. Spread it out over a few days time. If after that it's still not back to shaving sharp, something else is wrong. 2) send it out to be honed by someone, get it back and read all you can about stropping in the meantime.
Thanks, Chris! First, I agree 100% with your thoughts on stropping and a tutorial DVD/video lesson. You're spot on. Second, I'll give honing gently on the 8K side a go and let you know how it works out. Should that fail, I might just send it out to Classic Shaving (where I bought it) and pay for their professional service. A third option for me is that I go to an "old school" barber that uses a straight razor to clean up around your neck/ears and chat with him. He probably has forgotten more about straight razors than I'll ever know!

Thanks again!
Ryan