Thread: Should I be stropping 2 or three times during one shave?

I'm relatively new to straight razor shaving (6 months) although not wet shaving (25 years) I started with a shavette then got myself a couple of straight razors; One is a vintage stainless steel that was polished and I have sharpened, the other is a new Dovo best quality carbon steel that I have also sharpened.

I've sharpened both razors on a Norton Oil stone (set bevel then finished) and finished with a really fine wetstone.

The initial shave is pretty comfortable (comparable with a new blade in a shavette) and I start on the low density areas like the cheeks leaving the chin and top lip (which are my problem areas) to soak a little longer.

What I'm finding is that I need to strop by the time I get to my chin at least twice before I'm done. Having looked around at tutorial videos and reading on here it seems that isn't a common thing to need to do. I wouldn't have said I have particularly tough whiskers (I'm not Desperate Dan or anything) The stropping definately makes a big difference to the shave.

Is there something funamental that I'm missing or do I just have to accept that I'm a 2 strops per shave guy?

Cheers
Fozzy.

I'm no expert (only shaving 6 months myself), but from what I've read on this forum it may be the bevel isn't set properly.

Others with more experience can probably tell you more though.

I have fairly coarse beard as well but can easily get through a 3 pass shave without stropping.

I am in the same boat as ZeroCool, been shaving with a straight for 6 months. I don't think you should have to strop a couple of times during a shave. You mention using a Norton oil stone to set the bevel and finishing on a really fine whet stone. What are the gits of the stones you are using? A lot of people use a combo 4K/8K Norton to set the bevel and sharpen followed by a finer finisher of about 10K/12K.

If you are not using the right grits you may not be setting the edge and sharpening it properly/enough even if your technique is good.

Hopefully somebody with more experience will be along shortly.

Bob

When I first started I was only stropping about 20-25 laps before the first pass and then needed again between passes during the shave. What I discovered was that If I stropped for about 100 laps before the shave I no longer needed to strop during my three pass shave. Perhaps that will work for you.

you should not have to strop during shave.
I suspect you have two possible issues with your edge:
#1 Overhoned (I doubt this is the case here) in which case the edge is so thin that it can't last a full shave
#2 Not honed to real shave ready. This is the case when you jump off a coarser stone to real fine stone before the edge is ready for the jump, or if you need to add another stone in between that you do not have. In this case you are smoothing the edge on the finishing stone but the edge is not truly shave ready.

What kind of Norton Oil stone are you using? They exist in several coarseness grades, also what is your finishing stone?

Check your stropping technique as well, are you [I]really[I] keeping the blade flat on both the down and up strokes? I thought I was at first starting out, and was having the exact same problem; I have very coarse stubble unless I let it grow out for about 2-3 days (almost a beard)! I also did the same as Gammaray above...switched to 50 linen 50 leather shaved if not to my liking then 40 linen 40 leather, and actually sped my strokes up just a bit and the shaves gradually improved and the mid shave stropping wasn't needed! I realized I was going too slow, but still not keeping the blade flat the whole time, and not stropping enough for fear of rolling the edge as is mentioned around the forums. There is a thread here on stropping speed, I would search and check that out...helped me a lot.

I can get through two passes with no problem.

+1 to checking stropping technique
+1 to possible bevel problem

What kind of oilstone are you using? And what finishing stone?

Something about your honing progression sounds wrong but it's impossible to guess without knowing what you are using.

Try sending one of the blades out to a member or a pro for honing. Then you can work on shaving and stropping. If the shaves work out then later you can improve the honing

Michael

Originally Posted by mjsorkin

What kind of oilstone are you using? And what finishing stone?

Something about your honing progression sounds wrong but it's impossible to guess without knowing what you are using.

Try sending one of the blades out to a member or a pro for honing. Then you can work on shaving and stropping. If the shaves work out then later you can improve the honing

Michael

I also strop between passes. I don't have to , but I want a really sharp razor during the shave. I only strop 5 to 10 round trips and that brings the edge back to perfect.

Something had to have gone wrong in the honing process. Bevel doesn't sound as if it were set. Also, I strop on linen or jeans 20 or so laps and leather 50 or 60 laps or more. Never in the middle of a shave, just between shaves.