Thread: Post honing stropping

In the several months I've lurked on this forum before posting myself I've seen lots of threads describing various techniques with different stones and with a few exceptions most end with something like "and I followed this with (usually somewhere between 25-50) strokes on the leather and test shaved". Quite a few of those posts then went on to say how mediocre the shave went.

In the 30 years or so I watched my grandfather use a straight he only used one stone (a barber hone wetted with shaving lather) about once a month and I don't recall him ever doing more than 10 laps. But he ALWAYS followed this honing with a LOT of stropping. I never counted but I'd conservatively estimate about a 100 laps on the linen and somewhere between 200-300 on the leather. His normal preshave ritual was about 20-30 linen and 60-80 leather.

I don't have his patience (and with my Shapton 16k probably don't need it) but I always end my honing session with 50-60 laps on the latigo and 100 on the horsehide.

So to make a short story long...I'm wondering how many of these mediocre shaves would have went better with a little more stropping. Can any experienced honemeisters comment on this or even better tell how much stropping they do after honing?

I can't really report conclusively on my own experience because I always strop after honing, but I have read other posts that stropping after honing yields a smoother shave and that shaving straight off a hone can be harsh.

I would have to assume that it depends what you use in your progression and what stone you finish on.

I always strop after honing too, and I also always strop razors honed by honemeister just before shaving; I usually do 60 to 80 strokes on the linen and 30 to 40 strokes on the leather.I have always been happy with the smooth edge it gives to my razors.

But, if you don't have too much time or pleasure in stropping, I think that after honing, you could skip the linen/canvas part (I don't, I like too much the sound of the stropping against the linen ) and do only the leather part; in fact, I believe you can skip the whole linen thing - many barbers only had a finishing stone to keep the edge sharp and a leather strop and they did quite well...

My two cents... hope it helps

I have a set format, every single razor after the stones/pastes get 50 laps on linen and 100 laps on leather....

I have a couple of barber's manuals that both specifically state that stropping following honing should be exclusively on the leather, NOT the linen. I've never understood why.

I always do a double stropping on leather, after honing, about 80 laps, instead of the normal 40.
Of course one need to bring the length (and width) of the strop into account. My workhorse is a regular size Dovo.

About the stropping on linen: I've read a source in Dutch that said the linen is merely used to prepare an edge, out of alignment from shaving, for the leather strop. Such a misaligned edge, according to that source, may loose small metal particles, that get safely embedded into the fabric of the linen, but would otherwise get stuck in the surface of the leather and cause stray scratches while stropping.

I don't know if that's all true, but I have read posts here on SRP, with people reporting unexplained scratches left by the strop.
I always use the linen before stropping, except after honing, because there is no possible misalignment at the edge.

It may depend a bit on the finishing hone or paste, but it is my experience that a good stropping, with apt draw and tautness, adds a smooth but significant, yet short-lived bite to an edge. Hence the need to restrop before each shave, the first shave included.

Bart.

Originally Posted by Bart

About the stropping on linen: I've read a source in Dutch that said the linen is merely used to prepare an edge, out of alignment from shaving, for the leather strop. Such a misaligned edge, according to that source, may loose small metal particles, that get safely embedded into the fabric of the linen, but would otherwise get stuck in the surface of the leather and cause stray scratches while stropping.

Bart.

I've always considered the linen to be like using a pasted strop to impart a polishing effect on the edge...although it's probably at the submicron grit level...and like using a pasted strop you have to be careful to not go overboard and end up dulling the blade.