Thread: Palm honing

Willis my good friend, keep in mind the man has been working on straights for 60 years. He's a professional! I know many people are opposed to it or may have rough hands. Luckily I have fairly smooth hands. I just opened my hand wide open as far as it would go & tried it & i didn't cut myself..............yet.

I might have to give this palm stropping a try. The video you posted Steve, just plain amazed me! He is very pro at what he does. It just tripped me out! So quick on the hones and not being gentle one bit. Or it at least it appeared that way to me. I still have so much to learn....... Very interesting techniques he uses.

I am not going to doubt or say his methods are wrong because I am in no position to. But he had some methods I have never seen like on each stone going back and forth at first I have never seen. Then when he put the blade to the strop it was like he was slapping it fairly hard and using quite a bit of pressure to me.

But that is the beauty of this art...............

BTW- That razor looked more like a sword to me than a blade!!!!

I "palm strop" briefly to remove oil from an edge before pre-shave stropping on a strop. And I'll do the same to wipe gunky lather from the edge while shaving.

I guess I'm a "palm wiper" if not a palm stropper.

I do palm stropping and, to me, it is something I could not stop doing. I can tell when my razor has not been hand stropped: I really feel a difference.
As for Mastro Livi and the video posted by @engine46 I guess it is however amazing how he can put a super cutting edge on a freshly made razor, therefore having no bevel, in less than five minutes. And, no, it is not fictional: it is something I personally witnessed many times.
When I met Mastro Livi for the first time and he told me about hand palm stropping, I was very happy because it was something I was doing already and, knowing it is something he suggests and does, it made me like the technique even more. And, of course, I will not stop hand palm stropping my straight razors.
As for Mastro Livi honing technique, well he is honing tens of razors every day and he has done this in the course of his sixty years of professional career. I guess he simply developed his own technique and, as far as I can tell, it works wonders. He can hone to perfection a dull razor in less than five minutes, from hones to hand palm and test. The same is true for knives, scissors and every cutting tool I have seen him honing.
As far as I can tell, hand palm stropping is not dangerous and it really takes little time and practice to master it. Mastro Livi suggests practicing hand palm stropping with a very dull knife, such as the one you would use for spreading creams over a slice of bread.
Start little by little and take your time: it does not matter if you do that quick or slow and going slow certainly is very good in the beginning. Take your time and you will enjoy hand palm stropping your razor.

I second that, RazorGuy. Other than removing various residue during honing, like others mentioned before, after the finisher hone I palm strop a bit longer and that already gives me an idea if the razor is sharp enough and ready for full blown stropping. Then I move to kangaroo and horse hides... Other than that, it's just a fun thing to do!

Gallipoli, 1915 and a Gurkha hand stropping....

Sorry for off topic but. Yikes! Sure looks like a steep angle. Too high for me.

The back and forth sharpening technique is used by other honemeisters like Murray Carter and Howard at the Perfect edge. Note Mastro Livi and Murray Carter used very few strokes on the stones and hones yet achieve amazing edges. I was told by Murray Carter you don't get a better edge with more laps. If your technique is right then fewer is better. I will tell you that Mastro Livi's edge on his razors using the grit stones and strops he uses to sharpen them leave the best edge I have seen on any razor and I own or have owned 10 different manufacturers. Something to think about when you are using 40 or more laps on a strop.

I own a Mastro Livi razor and have another on order. His edge will beat any razor out there. He uses course stones and linen and chomium oxide treated strop to finish. Note how few laps he does to achieve the amazing results. I am amazed at the response to this thread. When I posted it I didn't think anyone would respond. Guess we are all looking to be enlightened and learn more about the art of Straight Razor Shaving.