Thread: Stropping question

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?

Keep both the spine and the edge on the strop. For a wedge, you should keep the strop taut to avoid rolling the edge. Go SLOW until you have managed to consistently keep that razor positioned correctly.

If the strop is an inexpensive one, you might have some grain to the surface that cause a different sound in one direction.

You might have some debris on the strop. Do you have a fabric strop for pre-stropping before hitting the leather? That helps avoid contaminating the leather with anything that might still be on your blade from previous use.

Rub the strop with the palm of your hand until the leather feels warm. That will add some good oils to the leather and warm up the surface for stropping. It will also let you know if there is any crud on the surface that should be dealt with.

When my strop requires cleaning, I use a very light application of saddle soap and let it dry thoroughly before using it again/

Originally Posted by DZEC

Keep both the spine and the edge on the strop. For a wedge, you should keep the strop taut to avoid rolling the edge. Go SLOW until you have managed to consistently keep that razor positioned correctly.

If the strop is an inexpensive one, you might have some grain to the surface that cause a different sound in one direction.

You might have some debris on the strop. Do you have a fabric strop for pre-stropping before hitting the leather? That helps avoid contaminating the leather with anything that might still be on your blade from previous use.

Rub the strop with the palm of your hand until the leather feels warm. That will add some good oils to the leather and warm up the surface for stropping. It will also let you know if there is any crud on the surface that should be dealt with.

When my strop requires cleaning, I use a very light application of saddle soap and let it dry thoroughly before using it again/

Thanks for the advice. It’s a cheap strop without a canvass side.

Originally Posted by Elnones

Thanks for the advice. It’s a cheap strop without a canvass side.

A clean piece of denim glued on corrugated cardboard will work. The cardboard provides enough “give” to simulate the feel of a leather strop.

In fact, some folks use denim as a medium for creating a pasted strop for extra fine finish honing using chromium oxide or CBN.

Originally Posted by Elnones

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.

I get that at times too. And in the same direction. I've noticed that's when I was leaning the razor more to the toe or heal.

Keeping your elbow locked in the same position took care of it.

Your just not flat all the way across the strop. It hasn't caused any problems, but it sure doesn't sound good.

Same for honing... Keep that elbow fixed in position.

I used to have the same problem although not a wedge.

It was silent one one direction but made a scraping noise in the other.

It was basically bad technique and its not good for the blade in my humble opinion, i felt i could hear the damage to my edge and my next shave proved i was doing something wrong

I was told by several guys here to strop the spine and let the edge follow.

In my humble opinion any sound other than a very quiet swish swish in both directions is wrong and i definitely don't want up and down to sound different.

Of course i have never stropped a wedge so maybe i'm completely wrong and i should shut up.

Originally Posted by STF

I was told by several guys here to strop the spine and let the edge follow.

And that’s the rub - one might end up just sliding the wedge’s blade on its side with no meaningful contact with the edge.
I don’t think wedges lend themselves to this sort of technique.


B.

Keep it flat regardless of grind.
To me there is always a minor difference in sound from one direction to another.
Keep it flat - no worries.

Unless a wedge razor has been honed to death & turned into a flat wedge it will always be a quarter hollow grind.
Do not raise the spine when stropping. A hanging strop will give enough to strop any type of grind unless it's been honed with a dozen layers of tape on the spine.