Thread: Pre honing ritual

I would like to find out what others are doing to the razor (if anything) before honing. Is it productive to strop it first or is this a waste of time? So far my prep has been to just make sure the razor is squeaky clean, give it around 30 laps on the leather (unless it's a bevel reset and then I skip the strop) and then just start honing.

Is there anything else I should be doing?

Can you explain your reasoning as to why you strop before honing?

Chris L

Originally Posted by Chris L

Can you explain your reasoning as to why you strop before honing?

Chris L

Running a razor across my chin is very similar to running it over a wire brush.

Unless the razor is so dull it would benefit from resetting the bevel I feel a stropping lines up the blade so when I hit my finishing stone for a quick touchup I'm not causing micronicks by grinding off bentover parts of the blade. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Originally Posted by AusTexShaver

Running a razor across my chin is very similar to running it over a wire brush.

Unless the razor is so dull it would benefit from resetting the bevel I feel a stropping lines up the blade so when I hit my finishing stone for a quick touchup I'm not causing micronicks by grinding off bentover parts of the blade. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Perhaps I should have clarified this a little. I've gotten spoiled since I've finally figured out how to hone so it's not uncommon for me to quit using a razor that's not doing the job in the middle of a shave. I've already filled my quota of bad shaves.

Have you tried stropping the razors that stop performing for you in mid shave? If so, has that improved things? I share a similar beard with you as do many others here. If my razors aren't extremely keen, edges that remove whiskers with ease on my cheeks and neck can actually get stopped by my chin whiskers and require a different approach (short micro passes, different and alternating directional approaches, etc). IME, edges that crap out mid shave are either under or overhoned. At this stage in my honing, they're almost always underhoned. They don't pass the shave test. They're not ready.

Interesting theory on strop aligning an edge before bringing it back to a polishing stone for refreshing. Can you experiment with this and go to the hone without stropping, test shave and tell us if you feel any measurable difference?


Chris L

Originally Posted by Chris L

Have you tried stropping the razors that stop performing for you in mid shave? If so, has that improved things? I share a similar beard with you as do many others here. If my razors aren't extremely keen, edges that remove whiskers with ease on my cheeks and neck can actually get stopped by my chin whiskers and require a different approach (short micro passes, different and alternating directional approaches, etc). IME, edges that crap out mid shave are either under or overhoned. At this stage in my honing, they're almost always underhoned. They don't pass the shave test. They're not ready.

Interesting theory on strop aligning an edge before bringing it back to a polishing stone for refreshing. Can you experiment with this and go to the hone without stropping, test shave and tell us if you feel any measurable difference?


Chris L

With a well used razor it's not uncommon for me to strop 3 times during a shave. If stropping doesn't improve the shave I switch razors.

I have already done that test and it seems to take less honing for a touchup if you strop first. Since I got my Shapton 16k I've experimented a lot!

My standard of exellence is will the razor comfortably shave my chin so now I strop, hone and test. Before I used to start on the 8k but now I give the 16k a try first and it normally passes on the first or second test. If it doesn't pass on the second try I do a 4/8 pyramid then go back to the 16k.

Originally Posted by AusTexShaver

I strop, hone and test

I do hope you strop between honing and testing. It greatly helps in smoothing out the shave, as well as ensuring that the edge is properly in line and cutting to the best of its ability.

I must say, stropping before honing seems to make perfect sense. On the down side, I wonder if it helps to preserve any fatigued metal- something I think should be got rid of.

I have switched razors while shaving, but I don't like it. I don't especially like the idea of having to strop mid-shave. My expectation is the razor should at least be capable of 1 shave without retouching of any kind. If it doesn't I blame my sharpening technique. In time that blame may be transferred to the razor as simply not good enough. I still have a ways to go before I feel comfortable with that assessment.
I try not to blame the beard though-it's not a factor I can change.

I look at the edge under magnification before I hit the hone. The condition of the edge determines the grit I start with. IOW, if there are chips or a burr I might start with 2K rather then 4. As far as stropping, in this thread mparker 762 said;

"I once took a Wostenholm wedge and sliced through cardboard until it was too dull to shave armhair even with pressure. It took a bit more than a thousand laps on linen before it would shave as well as it did before. That sounds like a lot, but it was only about 45 minutes of stropping - my right arm wasn't working right for a few days after though.

I don't think the leather really does much sharpening. I've tried to get moderately dull razors sharp by stropping on leather with only minor improvement after hundreds of laps. But the linen on the other hand can make dramatic improvements in the edge".

mparker762 again in this thread;

"I've been doing a lot of experimenting with stropping lately and one thing I've noticed is that I have been drastically understropping my razors these past years. If I only did 10-15 laps on the linen and 30 or so on the leather then my edges would last about ten days. But if I did 40-50 on the linen and 30 or so on leather then the edges didn't really deteriorate at all over several months (Stainless razors need far fewer laps on the linen to keep a great shaving edge). So I've suspected for awhile that for me at least corrosion was the big edge-killer, and these photos demonstrate that this is certainly plausible. I've also noticed that my linen was turning black after a few months of this, which led me to believe that the material coming off the blade was the black oxidation. I think these photos have also convinced me that a mild abrasive on the daily strop may not be an inherently flawed idea, especially if you happen to live in an area with tap water that causes more rapid corrosion than is depicted in these photo or skin chemistry that causes the same problem. If the purpose of the strop is to abrade away the corrosion, then a little help can't hurt, the trick is to not overdo the stropping in this case".

I haven't tried stropping before honing but now I do the 50 linen and 30 leather before shaving and it is working well for me .

I do a few strokes on the linen (10-20) to clean the edge of soap or skin residue
before honing.

- Scott