Thread: Pressure on edge while stroping?

How taught is taut? Depends on who is doing the teaching and how tight they control things.. or something like that...

(darn auto-correct)

Truth told, explaining just how tight you pull the strop before it's considered 'taut' is like trying to explain how much pressure is 'light' when honing.

....and the freight train derails.

If the ring or hook rips out of the wall it's probably to taut........lol

Originally Posted by MikekiM

How taught is taut? Depends on who is doing the teaching and how tight they control things.. or something like that...

(darn auto-correct)

Truth told, explaining just how tight you pull the strop before it's considered 'taut' is like trying to explain how much pressure is 'light' when honing.

I think at first you have to guard against dulling the edge. You'll keep the strop really taut and use no pressure. At some point you'll just have to take a razor and shave a bit, strop a bit, shave a bit, strop a bit, etc., until you find a sweet spot. Most guys starting out don't really strop very well and you can feel the edge being a little rough on the skin. They usually are too taut and too light. Hopefully, that's the case. That is where you need to start. When you start to relax a little and add just a touch of pressure, you'll be doing just a little better. If you feel a slight improvement in the edge, you're doing really well. The problem is that stropping is often designed to just keep the edge feeling fresh, and you won't notice very much difference.

Once you learn to hone, all bets are off and you can do anything with a strop, and just fix the blade. If you add too much pressure or add to much sag, you will get irritation first, before you feel pulling. If you feel pulling you've really gone too far.

Remember that the "stropping effect" is not created by pressure or deflection, it's created by friction. Friction is what causes the steel to slightly smooth.

The edge of the razor is the only part that needs to be stropped. That edge is the weakest part of the razor. So, if you strop with zero deflection, and zero pressure, if that were possible, you'd really be stropping the base of the bevel, not so much the edge of the blade.

You want to induce the slightest amount of deflection possible, and use the slightest amount of pressure possible, with the most number of reps possible (later replaced by some speed) in order to strop. The edge will last longer this way. Friction will smooth the edge of the blade. If you apply a lot of pressure it should mostly fall into the base of the bevel, which is the widest part of that end of the blade. This might confuse you. Now your applying pressure which creates deflection so the edge feels smoother, but you aren't stropping better, you're rather just finally getting to the edge. This works if the razor is dull. A dull razor can be stropped with more pressure, and sadly most beginners are using dull razors. It leads to confusion, with pressure, deflection, and whatever else you might be up to.

Just remember that despite what will work (I can slap a razor full bore onto a strop and not damage the edge) that doesn't mean that I should.

Rather, I should hone the razor to its most delicate edge, and then strop, utilizing the most gentle control possible, to use friction alone to smooth the edge.

So the real experimentation is in developing a safe stroke that prevents pressure being applied to the sharp, mailable edge, and ensures the razor runs along the strop supporting the weight and pressure. If you put weight down on a moving blade the weight should just naturally fall onto the spine and the base of the bevel, this leads to the feeling that it's easy, and carefree. It is.

The reason you want the strop to be relaxed just a little, and not SUPER taut is because you want a little forgiveness. Flat as it is, stropping on a piece of steel would be difficult.

So, remember that friction does the work. Start taut and light. Strop, shave. Then relax a little with your strop hand, just a touch and strop lightly. If you feel some improvement, you've got it. Don't ever add too much deflection. You'll really screw up the edge.

As the razor smoothes, you might begin to find that the razor is more forgiving of pressure. That's okay. That's not really a reason to go crazy with pressure. Adding too much pressure causes problems, especially if you think you're adding more friction. You probably are adding more friction, but the edge also will have a harder time maintaining it's shape. Once you start adding pressure the likelihood of adding asymmetric pressure, and the edge losing it's shape increases. Which leads to bad shaves and the description of a "rolled" edge.

It's not a respectful way to treat the edge and will lead to more honing iterations, like monthly. Not a big deal, really.

But, the natural ability of a razor to balance out pressure, compounding it where the razor is widest, and not on the edge directly, is a blessing. It does lead to some guys finding that you can strop anyway you want to and it'll kind of work. But, you should strive to use friction, on the edge, and extend the edge out for the natural life cycle of the honing iteration. That is best done with a softly extended strop, and light pressure, with lots of passes.

But, it can be accomplished with pressure and a taut strop, and deflection and no pressure at all, but you'll really screw things up using deflection and pressure together. At this point, that's one of the few ways I can still screw up an edge.

You should spend some time stropping a razor and note how/if you can feel the friction created. Each strop is a little different. You'll note though that the "draw" is persistent with a variety of tautness levels, from hard pulling to soft pulling. With light razor contact there is no need for hard pulling. The two forces work in concert with each other somewhat (although the room for error is really enormous). This is why the adage "guard against sagging" is used. Sagging strops aren't really a catastrophic problem, but they also don't contribute well to maintaining an edge. Likewise a strop that is white knuckle taut will be applying most of the stropping action into the bevel's base. An effect of equally limited usefulness, although you'll likely feel as if you're achieving the ultimate in friction and draw.

The key is to just relax, and strop with the same mindset that you hone and shave. Controlled, gentle, purposeful. Using only the pressure needed. Excess pressure is either wasted, or deforms the edge.

Thank you AFDavis11, I can add that a good hanging strop is the better choice for me because it teachs you how the edge "feels" the leather, then I can pull the strop slightly more or less applying more pressure on the spine.

Just buy a SRD modular paddle strop. It eliminates the whole how tight is to tight to pull on the strop . That way you can just focus on your technique. Once you have your technique then get a hanging strop.

Not all the SRs are the same, different geometries, different strops and stropping (and stroppers).

When I strop I do it very lightly like patting a dog on it's head, no pressure. Roll on the spline & go again. When I first started it took me awhile to get it down because I have no collarbone in my left shoulder so I was easing up on my tautness by accident. I finally bought me a loom strop from Straight Razor Designs, the best one they have, about 25" working area. That helped my left shoulder a lot because I'm right handed so I just hold my loom with my left hand & strop with my right, very lightly. It works great. That loom strop is the best thing a person can have if you have trouble like I was having. It also has a fabric side on the opposite side so that you can use diamond pastes or whatever paste you're comfortable with. I also have a flatbed strop like Lynn has. They work great. Mine has the hard felt on it with my choice of paste which is diamond paste. Once done there, I go to my leather side of my loom strop. I have a couple of options so sometimes I have to try different things out which is great. If you have the bucks, invest in a Mastro Livi loom strop. They are well worth the money when it comes to putting a finish on your blade. I love mine!

I strop with very light pressure evenly distributed along the razor's length. Visualize a razor moving back and forth by itself with only it's own weight as evenly applied pressure. I hold the strop taught, but do not pull tension on the strop. I use my fingers to flip and impart back and forth motion, but try to hold the razor loosely enough so it distributes it's weight evenly along and across the blade.

After starting to strop this way, I noticed my edges getting sharper and lasting longer before needing refreshing. I also stopped getting occasional micro nicks on my strop edge.

I also wipe my strop with a clean cloth to clean off any dust or grit and lightly hand wipe to condition the leather. I rarely wipe with a slightly damp cloth to remove deposits that may be building up on the surface.

Keeping the length of the stroke short and the rhythm not too fast but smooth helps.

Stropping is key because it must be done well after each shave or we are trying to shave with a dull razor. It brings a shave ready edge back to shave readiness after each shave.

HTH

I firmly pull outwards on the strop from it's eye screw anchor at the top of my bathroom sink wooden cabinet and apply just enough firm pressure to keep the razor flat against the strop throughout the stropping process. I think it is a good idea to put a bit more pressure on the back of the razor because it will help keep the razor in contact with the strop, and keep too much pressure from being applied to the edge which would dull the razor.

I think you can go lighter if you wish as long as the entire surface of the razor remains flat against the strop. As far as speed, go as fast as you are comfortable. Too fast and you are going to lose control. But I think too slow and you will lose some of the effectiveness of stropping.

Oh, and honing....

Hone when you need to. When stropping won't do the job, you probably need to hone. But hone only enough to bring back your edge which shouldn't be too much assuming your edge had already been recently "shave ready." For me, honing is a rare occurrence. For others, maybe more often. Don't worry about it, just enjoy the shave.