Thread: How much work does a strop do?

I'm not sure whether this should be in the strop, razor or general category...
Anyhow. We've all seen the neato articles that show what different hones do to the edge of a razor, what a shave-ready razor looks like, etc... under the close magnification of a microscope. I wondered if anyone ever checked out the before and after of a blade in respect to stropping?
I'm sure it'd be neat to see what exactly we are re-aligning. It might also be neat to see the effects of different strop pastes as well.

It has been done.

WONDER PHOTOS REVEAL UNSUSPECTED FACTS ABOUT Razor Blades and Shaving

But I'm sure somebody here could do better.

X

I think it would be great to see the edge before a shave, honed, stropped and ready to go. Then another after the shave, and a final shot after stropping again.

I'll have to look into the usb microscopes again. They just look like too much fun.

Dave

Originally Posted by xman

It has been done.

WONDER PHOTOS REVEAL UNSUSPECTED FACTS ABOUT Razor Blades and Shaving

But I'm sure somebody here could do better.

X

Although that's a great article that I read often, is anyone else concerned that the diagram shows the blade being lit from the wrong side? Not saying they faked the photos, but ... Actually I suppose I am suggesting it.

It's difficult to get good optical shots of a razor edge with it lit from the camera side. The reflections cause all sorts of optical illusions.

The best I've been able to do was with a USB scope, where I turned the contrast way down so all that you could see was the light from the edge, no bevel at all. (ex here)

Also, the pre-shave photos in that article are comparable to what Verhoeven saw with his electron microscope, though he didn't look at post-shave edges at least where we can compare them they are consistent.

Originally Posted by dkapp

I think it would be great to see the edge before a shave, honed, stropped and ready to go. Then another after the shave, and a final shot after stropping again.

I'll have to look into the usb microscopes again. They just look like too much fun.

Dave

Robert has beat you to it. Search tour of razor's edge. Granted, he doesn't have a pic after stropping after shaving, but...

Theres also another recent article about stropping and edges written by a professor.