to strop or not to strop

[groovyd]

my new TI razors both came with a sheet from TI that explicitly says not to strop the razor for the first few shaves leaving me wonder why. They are plenty sharp out of the box but don't give as smooth a shave as after a good stropping would so why wait? Must be a good reason for this?

[JimmyHAD]

It is just an assumption on my part but ..... they may fear that an inexperienced user will roll the edge through inept stropping and then blame the result on the shave readiness of the razor. Other than that I can't imagine why they would recommend that. Stropping on linen/leather always improves an edge IME. Enjoy your new TIs.

[Jimbo]

Probably because they figure they are selling to straight razor newbs who will ruin the edge if they strop. I cannot see any other reason for the advice, other than TI has no idea what it is talking about (possible, but unlikely). There may be other reasons, but I cannot see any *good* reasons

James.

[hoglahoo]

I think TI hopes you will learn to shave with the razor before you change how it shaves with the strop