Thread: Stropping after honing

I'm not sure if this belongs in the Honing Forum or in
the Stropping Forum, but I hope that the moderator
will straighten it out for me.

I read this somewhere, but I can't find the reference
now:

"After honing the razor, proceed directly to the leather
strop, bypassing the linen."

Is this correct? And if so, what is the rationale for
doing that?

Thanks,
Paul

I wouldnt recommend it, that would seem to me to leave minute metal particulate in the leather, not a good thing in my opinion. After honing, I will strop a blade a minimum of 100x on linen and then the leather.

+1 ... I think strops may have been considered sacrificial items when that was written.
I used to use only leather but no way I'm taking fresh honed steel to my Kanayama strop without an intermediate process.

It's not something I skip either. My reasoning is slightly different though. As far as I'm concerned, a freshly honed blade shouldn't do any harm straight on leather, but we all want them to shave as smooth as possible. In my mind, the linen plays an important role in getting the edge where I want it.
I tend to strop them well on both after the stones. For me, that's still only 50-100 linen, followed by another 50-100 leather, so not as much as some of the fellas.

I always do linen then leather, but not 100x just 30 linen then 60 leather. Is the general opinion that it should be more?

If the shaves are comfortable & you're happy, why do more? I tend to do those kinds of figures only after honing. The rest of the time 20-25 linen, 25-30 leather usually.

Paul, I can't be sure where you read that but the 1961 barber manual excerpt in the SPR Wiki Help Files says that," When the razor is freshly honed it should be finished on the leather only." I posted the same question some time back. I've experimented with linen or webbed fabric before the leather and leather only. In spite of what the manual says I prefer the wf or the linen before the leather. I know this routine gives me a better edge, speaking only for myself.

As for matalfab's question of how many strokes, From reading maparker762's posts on stropping and thebigspendur's 'grand experiment' some time back I've gotten into the routine of 50 and 50. Some guy's do more and others less. We all have to experiment and find what works for us individually IME.

+10

Linen after Honing here too... Right after the linen is when I do my final check under a loupe too, anything that wasn't good will get knocked loose by the linen...

Count wise

After honing 50-100
Before shaving 25-50

But like already mentioned those are just numbers, each person strops differently on different strops so they vary...

My best edges result from stropping 50X on hard treated vintage linen after honing, followed by stropping 10X on a leather CroOX impregnated paddle strop, and finishing with 50X on very fine smooth leather. I wipe the blade with a microfiber cloth between stroppings to remove any residue from the strop.

i have to say i have shaved of the leather after honing. then i went back in two days time and did tony miller linen 560 and 60 horse hide, and i could easily tell the differance in the shave. normal day shave i would do 20/40 or somtimes just leather but always after honing i hit the linen as after coticule honing the linen seems to improve the edge enough to notice the advantage of linen.