Thread: Mid Shave Stropping

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

A blade holding its sharpness has nothing to do with its size its a function of the quality of its materials and manufacture and of course your beard type. In my opinion if you have to restrop with a small blade you'll have to do it with a larger one of equal quality.

If I were you I would give it some more time and see what happens. If things don't improve with more experience then you might try a larger blade and see if it makes a difference for you.

That's the way I was leaning. I think I just need to find my method and then I can start worrying about the other variables.
Thanks for the advice and info.

Originally Posted by Korndog

I have to admit that my wife sometimes catches me stropping a razor at odd times of the day or night. I tell her it's better than catching me watching internet porn.

I think my wife would prefer me watching internet porn. She keeps saying somthing about obsession. But then I don't listen that much I am too busy looking for razors on ebay.

My wife just rolls her eyes when she hears me laughing while on-line. What can I say this is my form of socializing.

While I'll agree that a big blade and a small blade both end up requiring about the same amount of stropping and honing as any other of the same quality steel and blade-thickness, I feel that the heavier wedges do maintain their edges better because of the thickness of the steel behind the edge. They can be given the exact same bevel and the exact same level of keenness as an extra-extra-hollow ground and will, therefore shave just as well, but be much less prone to micro-chipping and bending. The downside is that when you do have to hone, all that metal supporting the fine edge makes the process a good bit more time consuming and aggravating than honing a super-thin hollow ground blade. But.... that's all just my suspicion. I've only got a few razors that shave well start to finish without stropping between passes and almost all of them are English Wedges.

Interesting... Do you have a very heavy beard? Because I strop only pre-shave and my beard is a bit tough. I agree though I like the wedges best especially a big 7/8 W&B with some weight behind it.

I strop between passes. Especially, when I'm shaving with my Dovo. My TI seems to hold a keen edge longer, but I still strop between the first and second pass. If I make a third pass I don't strop. My third pass uses very little pressure and is more of a touch-up pass than anything else.