Thread: hypothetical question

I'm not sure if this would be more appropriate in the stropping section or not but here goes.

Say I have a non shave ready razor. I have a selection of stones but none of them are above 1000 grit. If I were to properly set the bevel, with the edge able to shave arm hair, would it be possible to strop it to the point where it could pass the shave test? Given of course you have a proper strop, proper technique, infinite amount of time and alot of endurance.

I was just curious. It seem leather is abrasive enough to smooth, straighten, maintain an edge. If it were possible to bring it to “shave ready” wouldn’t you just be able to just strop longer instead of “touching it up” on a stone?

I don't know. It seems to me that it if you could shave your face with it the shave would be uncomfortable no matter how much stropping you did. Why not give it a try and report back on your results ?

I think in theory the answer is yes. As BigSpendur always says, the grand canyon was made with water!

However, in practice plain leather is, for all intents and purposes, non-abrasive. So the amount of time needed to get that edge smooth on a strop would be prohibitive I think.

Having said that, there are a few guys here who have shaved straight from their bevel-setting grit. Glen and Kevin (and I think Bart) to name a few. With that in mind, the whole stropping straight from the bevel-setting grit idea may work to an extent, but I seriously doubt it would work in the sense of obtaining, in a reasonable time frame, an edge we might commonly call "shave ready".

If all you have is a strop, you could try pasting one side of it with a suitable abrasive compound of your choice - usually that is cheaper than most hones, and better than just plain leather (for honing, I mean) IMO.

James.

You may set the bevel and it may be sharp, smooth enough to shave with is another story. Keep the face balm handy!

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Why not give it a try and report back on your results ?

I considered it, but I'm not that curious. I was completely speaking theory. Being in the Army I wouldn't have an opportunity to allow my face to recover if needed.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

You may set the bevel and it may be sharp, smooth enough to shave with is another story. Keep the face balm handy!

+1 on this.
it will be very hard to get razor shave ready condition just by stropping after 1k. May be after 50 years you will get there.
If you have pastes (diamond) you can speed up precess for minutes. GL

What's the problem shaving at 1k? IME it is doable but not preferred - too many passes needed to get smooth. Add some abrasive to your strop

This all brings us back to the realm of will it work? Yes many things work but you might not want to use them. You can shave with just water on your face and get a close shave but would you want to? You can drive around in a Yugo, it will get you where you want to go but would you?

The guys who have shaved off a 1K don't do it as their preferred shave routine. They do it to prove you can get workable sharpness off that hone. I've never tried it with a 1K but I have with the 4K and you can get a very respectable shave. Would I want to do it? No.

Where in MD are you? Come on over, I'll let you try! When I think about the practicality of it though I'm a little confused. Why not move up to a brick or something from 1K?

If I were very tightly strapped for money, with the equipment you have, I might consider buying some chromium oxide lapping film to use prior to the leather strop. The lapping film, placed on something flat, doesn't give like a leather strop. Cheap. Won't round your bevel as much...