Thread: "Scratchy" sound when stropping

Gents,

Once in a while, I hear a "scratchy" sound for a few strokes of my stropping sequence. The sound is difficult to describe, but instead of a nice smooth "swish" sound, it's more of a high-pitch scratching sound... It happens more often during the pull stroke than the push stroke. When I hear it, I usually make a small adjustment in my grip and finger position, and usually the next stroke is nice and smooth. I use a 3 inch wide, english bridal, hanging leather strop. The first few times, I thought it might be caused by the spine not being in contact with the strop. However, I've been using the strop for over 6 months and I generally feel confident in my technique and as far as I can tell, the spine is in fact always contacting the leather.

Has anybody else experienced this? Any ideas for a cause of the issue, and how to fix it?

Thanks in advance!

It is more than likely a pressure-related thing, particularly because you say it mainly happens on the return stroke. Even those of us who don't use much of our wrist during the flip have a slight difference between the grip and stroke on the away and return passes.

Just be careful you are not lifting the spine on the way back. Pressure directed more toward the spine is always best, even if on a few strokes you don't hit the edge at all.

James.

Sounds like maybe your rolling the edge into the strop a bit hard (even if the spine is still touching the strop. Maybe pulling on the strop a bit hard? Could be your moving your whole body and are slack on the push stroke and leaning back on the return putting more tension on the strop (I thinking I'm reaching here, but hey it could happen).

With certain razors and certain strops you get a sound like cutting glass. It's just normal. I used to think it means the razor was extra sharp but it's just one of those things and doesn't necessarily mean anything.

My first thought was lifting the spine, as this is usually what causes me to get that noise you are describing. Perhaps putting a little too much pressure on the edge, even if the spine is still in contact, is the culprit. Effectively, those would essentially create the same condition. Just my thoughts.

My first thought was also that your spine wasn't in proper contact with the strop. If not it might have to do with too much pressure. Different razors sound different during stropping but since you only hear it occasionally it might not be the only reason.

Thanks for all the replies and advice. I've been careful to apply only light pressure, but I'll be extra careful to apply "even" pressure between the spine and edge, if not biasing a bit towards the spine. Hopefully this solves the issue!

if your edge isn't suffering , it just might not be anything to worry about ,, sometimes on different blades I get different sounds , but no damage so ive not given it much thought anymore tc

I occasionally get a slightly gritty sound for a few return strokes (only for the first part of the stroke), on one strop with one razor, each time i heard it i had a look at the razor, wiped the edge on my palm and wiped the strop with my hand.
I didnt feel or see any foreignmatter on either, anfd it went away on its own, the only thing i can think is that a small piece of dry skin, hair or or other shaving debris was stil on the razor.
It shaves fine, the strop shows no new damage so i didnt wory about it too much, though it will be interesting to see the responses, possibly trimmy's idea could play a part.

It sounds to me like you are lifting your spine rolling your edge through the stroke. That'll spoil your edge quick. Slow down and regain your mussle memory. Go with light strokes and not too much tension on the strop. I like to strop straight away and return back to me as I hover over the strop. That allows me to keep the strokes even, the pressure light and the flip is a toggle of the thumb. With this technique you can switch from the x pattern to the half x to point, middle then heel as freely as walking across the floor.

Regards

Chasmo