Quote Originally Posted by Elnones View Post
I am new to straight razor shaving. I bought a cheap leather strop, and, of course, I’ve watched videos on proper stropping technique. When I strop my Wostenholm wedge, in the movement away from me, there is not feedback or sound of any sort. But in the movement back, there is a sort of scraping sound. I assumed it might be that I’m holding the razor in a way that the spine in scraping the strop. Sometimes, I can eliminate the sound my making sure the spine is not touching the strop, but then I’m afraid I might be dulling the edge. Any thoughts, tips?
What you describe may be because you are stropping a wedge.
On hollow straights, the blade rests on the bevel/edge and the side of the spine when laying the blade flat on a level surface.
On (full) wedge razors the blade rests on the side (face) of the blade, which is what I suspect happens when you strop your Wostenholm.

To polish the edge, you may need to lift the spine of the blade ever so slightly (think thickness of a Canadian dime) to ensure that the bevel/edge makes contact with the strop. It will take some practice and when lifting the spine it is even more important not to exert any pressure on the blade.

Many people like wedges for their shaves, but hollow grinds have an advantage when honing and stropping, which is probably why the largely replaced wedges.


Hope this helps…


B.