Thread: Newspaper v. Linen

Wasn't sure where to put this and couldn't find my answer in the old posts. My question is this:

In my experience and others, newspaper clearly has some sort of abrasive property. There is a debate about linen and whether it has any abrasive properties. Now, I don't own any linen, or else I would do some experimental conjecturing. So, in the community's infinite wisdom, is there a consensus on whether linen is more or less abrasive than newspaper? If not, anyone experimented and care to share your findings?

I use linen impregnated with wood ash and find it far superior to newspaper.

I think the linen is definitely abrasive. I once took a very good-shaving wostenholm wedge, and dulled it until it would not cut hair off my arm without using pressure. Stropping it on linen restored the edge back to it's former sharpness. It took a lot of laps though, which tells me that linen isn't that abrasive, but this also means that the linen is well suited for daily stropping without unduly wearing the razor. I later repeated this experiment using the leather and didn't really see any improvement. I think the leather may help remove corrosion from the blade, and help dress the edge, but I don't think it's abrasive by itself. This is also what Prof. Verhoeven saw in his experiments. I suspect that if you use the leather side exclusively for a while then it may accumulate enough iron oxide to become usefully abrasive. I've also had good luck shaving with factory edges after stropping them on linen for a hundred laps or two. The hanging strop isn't terribly sensitive to bevel angles, so as long as the razor was actually honed to an acceptably sharp edge it will shave just fine after stropping.

I can get a sharper edge with newspaper, but I can't maintain an edge very well with it - I get about a week if I strop on paper for 100 laps/day, about the same as if I had just stropped on leather. Linen doesn't give me as sharp of an edge as newspaper, but it's a very smooth edge and still quite sharp, and I can maintain the edge with it for many months. I'm not sure how the abrasiveness compares between the two. One of the things that must happen during the daily stropping is the strop must knock off the accumulated corrosion to expose the hard sharp steel beneath, and I think the roughness of the linen and the slapping stropping motion assists with this task. But I think that rough texture of the linen limits how sharp it can get the razor, though that level of sharpness is roughly comparable to what chrome oxide will do.

The Dovo white paste, fire ash, chalk/beeswax etc, all increase the abrasiveness of the linen to improve the speed at which it will do its job, and I think the paste treatments (dovo, chalk/beeswax, soap) also fill in some of the hollows in the fabric and smooth out the texture a bit and stiffen the fabric so it deforms less from the pressure of the blade, which helps improve the edge that the linen can deliver.

I'd list newspaper as more abrasive then linen. But I probably don't use linen/canvas nearly as often as I should.

I've heard that the ink in newpaper provides some cutting action, giving around a 0.1 micron effect. Stropping on plain paper can make a noticeable difference, too.

(Darn it, now I gotta' go get some wood ash...)

I think the linen is definitely abrasive. I have a linen strop that has a tinge of black that looks just like a microscopic amount of steel filings similar to what comes off a stone but in a much smaller quantity.

Originally Posted by Sticky

(Darn it, now I gotta' go get some wood ash...)

I'm selling it for a great price.... just let me know how much you need!!

Originally Posted by Ben325e

I'm selling it for a great price.... just let me know how much you need!!

Thats funny. I might actually be a candidate! I used to reach into my Dad's wood stove and grab some ash out of there. When I ran out I started burning little things in the kitchen of my house, like paper, wood chips, pencils, etc. No go! Never did anything. Only pure wood ash from my Dad's woodstove seems to be properly abrasive. I guess I need to ask what kind of wood he is burning in that old wood stove.

Well, atleast I have a good reason to visit once in a while!

How times change. I used to enjoy reading a newspaper with my morning coffee. I always had a pile of newspapers to carry out to the curb. The last few years I read the news on the PC and I can't remember the last time I bought a hard copy hence I haven't tried stropping on newspaper. Funny that a Haddict who would spend many $$ on rocks and other materials hasn't gotten a darn newspaper for two bits and tried that.

I think the bulk of my problem, one we never discuss enough, is simply technique. I can strop on linen but stropping on newspaper is a whole new ballgame.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I think the bulk of my problem, one we never discuss enough, is simply technique. I can strop on linen but stropping on newspaper is a whole new ballgame.

I've thought about the mechanics of it, keeping it flat and taut while stropping. I think ChrisL and mparker have posted about their experience with it. I believe Chris was using chrom ox on his. I am going to make a point of getting some and trying it to see what the fuss is all about.