School to teach men how to shave. Article 1904.

An article form 1904, about a school to teach men how to shave.
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Martin, these articles you dig up are fantastic! Please keep 'em coming. :)

That is why most of us are here! Thanks, Martin!!! :tu

Excellent article! Thank you! Yes! Yes! Yes! His description of strop tension and elevating the spine is exactly the way to strop a razor! Using that method, I have maintained my brand new Dovo razor for over two years, not once honing it on a stone from the day I cracked the seal on it's box!

Very cool....is the school still open ? ;-)

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Originally Posted by Donut

Very cool....is the school still open ? ;-)

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Yes, but it changed its name to Straight Razor Place a while back... :)

Thank you Martin for posting.

It is a very interesting read and the explanation on stropping is in fact quite interesting.

I wonder how many people strop with the spine raised?

Where was this article taken from?

Well, I take that very little do since it is recommended to place the spine flat on the strop by everyone.

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Originally Posted by Grump

Thank you Martin for posting.

It is a very interesting read and the explanation on stropping is in fact quite interesting.

I wonder how many people strop with the spine raised?

Where was this article taken from?

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I believed the original was in a newspaper or magazine.

To strop with an angle and not flat on the back, I do so with my wedges : and it's really a GREAT solution (I do the same by "taping" the back of my wedges with several layers of tape while honing) !

This teacher known its art ! I have search tow years these solutions by making trials, mistakes : and all the informations were in this article !

Truth, the old time barbers are great "secret keepers" ! I believe also that hollow ground razors was design to avoid these problems, and therefor everybody could maintain the razor sharp without these "secret barber tips"

I normally strop with deflection, but I was surprised having just shaved with three different razors, all stropped with the spines off the strop, that there was no degradation. I think there may have been a slight improvement in the edge.

I was not able to get 1/8 th of an inch rise, perhaps closer to 3-4 mm. I was also able to use sound as a good indicator of rise. Maybe that is about the same distance?

It is much easier for me to raise the spine on the stroke toward me than the away stroke.

FYI 1/8 inch is ~3.2 mm.

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Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I normally strop with deflection, but I was surprised having just shaved with three different razors, all stropped with the spines off the strop, that there was no degradation. I think there may have been a slight improvement in the edge.

I was not able to get 1/8 th of an inch rise, perhaps closer to 3-4 mm. I was also able to use sound as a good indicator of rise. Maybe that is about the same distance?

It is much easier for me to raise the spine on the stroke toward me than the away stroke.

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I tried this on an old Sheffield and it was and improvement. It is going to take a bit of getting used to but it sure made a difference. Now I am going to set a razor that I hone to be designated as strop only to see how long I can keep it shaving comfortable.

oh boy this site sure has an INCREDIBLE amount of knowledge! after reading every post i tell myself "now i know the secret" and laugh maniacally because all the posts are just so valuable..! makes shaving better everyday!!

Thankyou SRP!! the greatest shaving school EVAH! (ever)

Hmm, I am tempted to try the stropping technique on a near wedge...maybe.

The last paragraph paints a great picture. "...the tip to the boy who brushes your coat and hat".

Most useful info!!!

I was always wondering that how the HELL my grandpa was able to keep his razor in good shape in those days for I don't know how long - with only a hand-made strop made by himself... Now I know.

I tried to strop like this and it works.

God bless you all.

Fantastic article, thank you Martin103- these old articles are always interesting.

I will try the stropping technique and perhaps the post face massage.

Any comments on the Stropping instructions. Not to have the spine flat on the strop but raised 1/8 of an in off it??? I tried it for about 60 passes and didn't see a difference. But may try building it up to 1/8 and see if consistancy helps.

So now.....tape or no tape while stropping !!! Wait until Glen sees this one !!!!!

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Originally Posted by nessmuck

So now.....tape or no tape while stropping !!! Wait until Glen sees this one !!!!!

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Maybe that could be his next big experiment.:hmmm:

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Originally Posted by overgripped

Fantastic article, thank you Martin103- these old articles are always interesting.

I will try the stropping technique and perhaps the post face massage.

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Please do and post your findings!

Well last night after reading this.....I stropped by lifting the spine a touch. You could hear that noise when you had it just right. My stropping was a lot slower...but trying to make that noise going up and then down is going to take some practice...BUT I did notice a big difference !!! I have the perfect razor to do some more experimenting on tonight, also lathered per the instructions too. I have been stropping wrong for 3+ years.... GREAT THREAD

After reading Mike aka Nessmuck success with this i did a little experiment this morning. I stropped my razor like i usually do then shaved half my face, then i put 6 layers of tape on the razor and stropped on leather (60) this shaved the other half, and there is definately improvement for sure. Now i wonder how the razor will perform with normal stropping?

I, too, strop my heavy wedges with the spine up, or very lightly touching. A bit of "torque" toward the edge. I figured if 2 or more layers of tape were used to hone, this would be beneficial. They get much smoother and sharper to the point I lay off the fabric some!
I found it interesting about how he described the lather as stiffening the hair, not softening it?

Martin ......you have changed the way I strop now. This article is SPOT ON !! I just stropped a BOKER 101 Red Injun that was shaving ok before.... But after stropping with the spine elevated ....the shave was smoother and sharper. Everyone NEEDS TO READ THIS . THANKS AGAIN !!!

I feel some descretion should be used on thinly-ground blades in doing this. Very light stropping on those to keep from damaging or weakening the bevel. We must remember that the author was English and it was 1904, so he may have been referring to more wedgy blades. I also think that a bit more slack in a hanging strop will accomplish this effect as well. I use mostly a bench strop, so I cannot slack off like one could with a hanging one so lightly contacted, or slightly lifted spine is the way I do it on my bench strop.

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

I feel some descretion should be used on thinly-ground blades in doing this. Very light stropping on those to keep from damaging or weakening the bevel. We must remember that the author was English and it was 1904, so he may have been referring to more wedgy blades. I also think that a bit more slack in a hanging strop will accomplish this effect as well. I use mostly a bench strop, so I cannot slack off like one could with a hanging one so lightly contacted, or slightly lifted spine is the way I do it on my bench strop.

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i must agree with you, after reading this article i was quite curios about the technique, but afraid to lift the spine to unequal heights. i figured that if i allowed my hanging strop to slack a bit, it would produce the same or a similar effect and it made sense since you would find a lot of old barbers also allowing their strops to slack and i must say that the shave that followed was incredible.
martin, my apologies for not informing you of this favorable experience earlier, and thank you for the article!

happy shaving to all:beer1:
hal.

Awesome article!

Agreed...good article indeed,thanks !

It's all about the sound of the razor and the leather in both directions....for me anyways....

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

I feel some descretion should be used on thinly-ground blades in doing this. Very light stropping on those to keep from damaging or weakening the bevel. We must remember that the author was English and it was 1904, so he may have been referring to more wedgy blades. I also think that a bit more slack in a hanging strop will accomplish this effect as well. I use mostly a bench strop, so I cannot slack off like one could with a hanging one so lightly contacted, or slightly lifted spine is the way I do it on my bench strop.

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Probably not the best method for people who are somewhat new to stropping as well.

Any updates on the stropping?

I'm all over it !!!! My edges are sharper but smoother !!!

I stropped with an elevated spine when I was a teenager using a piece of pot metal junk. Should have tried to open a school.

Great article - thanks. I find it ironic that back then the advertisement for straight razor shaving was to save money by going to the barber. Nowadays it's about saving money you spend on cartridges. Some things never really change do they :)

I tried it and it certainly seems like a functional method. Definitely slows me down and takes practice, but I like it. I agree with previous posts that it seems reasonable to do it on something more wedge-ish.

Just when you think you might know what your doing :banghead:

Great article thanks for posting.
Will try the raised spine stropping and report back.

I've been experimenting with this method on an 1830's sheffield with a so-so edge. So far, after three to four shaves, it seems to be holding it's edge. I'm not sure that I can say the edge has improved after applying this method to linen, cowhide, and roo strops, but it hasn't gotten worse.

Have a well used Filarmonica with a good edge but a worn spine. Rehoned her and went with the ~1/8 in idea- 6 levels of tape. Stropped her on treated felt and leather. She did sound different on both felt and leather! We'll see tomorrow morning what difference it made.