Thread: Under Stropping

Originally Posted by Dragonfire

Yup this was THE learning curve for me. I came into straight shaving completely confident in my honing ability and sure enough that did not let me down. But it was the stropping that refines the edge that eluded me a bit. Looking at it under a magnifying lense made for high end optical system (I've no clue what but its great) I noticed as the 12k striations vanished the shave produced progressively less razor burn. Once they were no longer visible I got no more razor burn. Then came the leather,I can't see anything that small even under the glass but what I know is my razors go from a bit of tug to really fine stubble squeegee still with no razor burn. So the 50 pass minimum is warranted.

Yes I'm now one of the Seekers of the Perfect Edge cult.

These two pictures may be the most dramatic and useful for me and hopefully for the novice straight razor user. These photos are after stropping on clean leather right off the JNAT. Normally, I would go to the .5 micron diamond treated wool linen and then follow with leather.

I wanted to leave the JNAT edge alone and go right to leather for this session to see the difference between a JNAT and a Naniwa 12K finish.

Picture one is after 50 passes on clean black Latigo leather:



And now for me, the most dramatic change of the evening is the very last picture. This is after an additional 50 passes on clean black Latigo leather for a total of 100 passes:



I believe that these last two photos prove what many here already know. Stropping is extremely important to the edge and should never be neglected, rushed or otherwise conducted haphazardly. That last photo gives me a very good feeling of where I have this edge now tonight. If this razor isn't shaving better tomorrow night, I really won't know what to say.

Frank