Thread: question about stroping technique

The problem with stropping is that it looks fairly straight forward when in fact it is quite technical and nuanced when done effectively, IMO. And it can take quite a long time (in my case maybe a year or more) to get it to a point where you can look back and say "Oh! That's what was wrong."

Little variations in pressure, small changes in elbow and wrist height especially at the flipping point - these things, while not being majorly noticeable or a one-off "disaster" like say a nick or cut, can all add up and have a cumulative effect over successive visits to the strop, particularly when you do lots of laps (eg 50) each time.

For me, the danger time was 3-9 months in. For the first few months I was careful, watched what I was doing, tried to keep things flat and went fairly slowly. Then the false confidence set in. I went faster, technique went out the window and with it so too did my shaves.

I'm in no position to say whether your stropping is good or not. However, since you are in the early-ish stages of your journey to shave-mastery the odds are (based on numerous other people's experiences) that there are some issues with your technique that should be addressed. I don't know if you are in a position to make a short video of your stropping to share with us, but if you are it could be a useful shortcut to getting some practical and informed advice on what you could do to improve (if, indeed, you need improvement).

It is hard to know whether your razor will improve with some careful stropping without seeing and testing it in person, but I'd suggest doing that as a first step at least. If the razor is at the point where it just will not shave comfortably, it may be a good idea to send it back to Birnando for a re-hone rather than suffer through poor shaves or, worse, cut or nick yourself by trying to compensate for the edge with more pressure - another common thing that can happen early on in a straight razor user's journey.

Good luck, and give some thought to a video so we can provide some constructive criticism to help you along the way.

James.