Thread: Why the hone is better?

I have been shaving for a little while and have had a decent brush, razor, strop, and cream to work with. What I have come to find that as of the last few months I prefer to shave with my razor right from the hone but not from the strop. I have had the strop longer than this has been going on so I am wondering is it time for professional help with my razor or what? Thank you for reading my post.

It wouldn't hurt to have your razor assessed by an experienced hand. A microscope & a shavetest could tell a lot about your honing/stropping.
I can't make any assumptions as to your honing skill but I'm wondering if your bevel needs work.

There could also be a problem with your stropping technique.... Trust me stropping makes the blade better than just straight from the hone.

Enjoy,
Jeff.

I was using a hanging strop up until a few days ago when another forum member (shooter74743) graciously gave me one of his paddle strops. The difference between how the blades look under magnification after using the paddle strop is astounding. Given the issues that shooter was helping me work through and the difference between the strop he gave me and my original strop, I've come to the conclusion that stropping was the root of most of my problems. If you know someone with a paddle strop, you might give it a try; I won't be going back to a hanging strop.

I have minimal tools at my disposal, my primary metal remover is a 220/1k Norton India and my hone is a ceramic called a Moonstone, no idea who made it but I do remember the clear plastic box it was in when I was a kid, Moon stone was written across the lid. I learned how to hone by watching a lot of vids on how to do it and I believe I got lucky the first time and just kept stropping and honing from there. As for stropping, my strop is an Illinois 127 and my main complaint is that it has shoulders along the edges that do not let the razor rest flat along the leather almost the whole length of the strop. It worked fairly well at first and would not let the razor touch my face without 4 or 5 passes on the strop but now I do not like to even look at the dagon thing.

Based off what you're saying, and I think there'll be some agreement from some more experienced shavers, it sounds like it's the strop and/or stropping that's hurting your edge.

it sounds like your strop is cupped.. bend it gently in the opposite direction and run your hand up & down a few times, then put it on a table and place something flat & heavy ontop of it for a while. this should fix that problem.


it does sound like you're doing something wrong when you are stropping if it's better to shave straight off of the hone.. could be too much pressure or technique.
you can lay your strop flat on a table and strop like that to eliminate one of the factors.

I never even considered that fragalot.

As far as my technique goes, I have researched on how to properly strop and the general consensus is to use a light hand and that what I do.

Using a bench or paddle strop is easy because it's pretty well fixed. If you are having issues with a hanging strop the problem lies with you. Once you know the strop is in good shape meaning no cupping or cosmetic issues there is nothing else but the operator. I can assure you a bench strop does no better a job stropping than a hanging strop as long as you use them properly.