Thread: Shaving direct off the hones

Have seen many posts on various sites, from people I know to be very good at the art of Honing razors.Most say shave off the finishing hones, no stropping,Why? do you get some feedback from the stones? that stropping may negate? just curious.

I have never tried that. I cant understand why they would not strop.

I have done it off the JNAT, shave is better post stropping.

I often palm strop after honing just to check the HHT.

No expert at honing but I do recall trying shaving direct off the hones and think it may give a better idea of what the honing did. Stropping after honing seemed to make for a slightly smoother shaving edge than directly off the hones. Then again I suppose that is what a proper stropping should do.

Bob

It's a nice way to check into the smoothness aspect. Stropping does smooth things up quite a bit, but it's nice to see where the edge stands right after honing.

not that im a walking book of knowledge or anything when it comes to honing or straights , but often if im running a few razors through the hones or hone one before i shave i often forget (in a hurry) to strop and although i get a good shave from the unstropped razor i can defiantly feel a difference in the way the shave feels .. ive even went as far as to getting the first pass along the sideburns done , then going " man i forgot to strop this thing" and going to the strop before i finish the shave .. maybe im not honing to top performance but there is a difference in the feel to me

The only reason would be to see how the edge compares to a known synthetic edge for hone evaluation purposes.
For actual edge assessment (shave ready, finisher vs prepolisher) stropping before the shave is a must. No pastes should be used if you want to find out if the hone gives good edge.
If you have a really good hone on your hands, the edge will need very little post- honing to get there.

Stropping seems to always give a "smoother" shave. At least for me.

I've tried it just for giggles a few times, mainly just to see how different stones feel. But in the end, the shave is always better after a good stropping.

I agree with Cat, I shaved right off my charnley forest today and frankly it was a bit harsh :0
Really sharp though
YMMV
Mike