Thread: I think I reached a stropping success milestone. THANKS!

Been at this straight razor shaving for a bit over a year now. I've been maintaining my two razors and getting decent shaves. Got a new razor from SRD honed by Lynn 3 weeks ago. Compared to my "decent" shaves the shaves with this razor are much better. I've been stropping it between every shave on a kangaroo strop and it has continued to shave great. A couple of days ago I noticed a little bit more resistance when shaving. So I used a webbing strop with .5 micron diamond spray on it. I think I did around 20 passes or so. Then I used the roo strop for 60-70 passes. The next shave was better than the previous. Just a little bit. I'm not sure if I would have noticed if I weren't trying to pay close attention to how sharp the razor was. Plus, being new to shaving with a straight razor my ability to judge shaves isn't what it will be in days and years to come. Anyway, I have been able to keep the definitely shave ready razor shaving well and even refurbished it some with the webbing strop. For me this is a significant improvement. In the past I'm convinced that on occasion I've done more harm than good to the edge. If I can continue like this I finally can understand how you guys say you can go for months without using stones.

I'd like to thank all the folks who have helped with this. Either by answering a specific question of mine or help I've gotten by reading posts and threads here.

It's kind of Shave-Geeky but I found keeping some kind of notes helpful.
A spreadsheet with every shave and a short note (Razor in one column) and a general note - soap, brush - and how it went.
Mine is Shave#/Date/Razor/Note (Soap, Brush, special prep is any, # of passes and a short result (BBS, DFS, Bloody mess etc.)) and comments about the edge is warranted.
If I write "I think this might be dragging, try another soap" a couple of times its time for a tune up.
Separat tab I track "honing" but it is really any time I do anything other than strop.
Date, razor what I did and how the shave test went, tape, no tape etc. (shave test is also in the shaving notes)
Side benefit is you keep track of how many shaves between honing/touch up.

I have a rotation of nice razors but without the notes I would not realize that I was favoring one or two over the others.
This is also how I figured out how long the different Feather style blades would last.

And you might try fewer passes on the .5 Diamond but don't wait so long.
Keep notes on your new razor and read some of the great threads about maintaining with pastes.
gssixgun had a fantastic long term test that I used as a starting point with great success.

Smooth Shaving...

Stropping is key, however you do it!

Good on ya' Jack! It's great to hear your progress and an inspiration to others learning. Keep up the good work!

Originally Posted by MJC

It's kind of Shave-Geeky but I found keeping some kind of notes helpful.
A spreadsheet with every shave and a short note (Razor in one column) and a general note - soap, brush - and how it went.
Mine is Shave#/Date/Razor/Note (Soap, Brush, special prep is any, # of passes and a short result (BBS, DFS, Bloody mess etc.)) and comments about the edge is warranted.
If I write "I think this might be dragging, try another soap" a couple of times its time for a tune up.
Separat tab I track "honing" but it is really any time I do anything other than strop.
Date, razor what I did and how the shave test went, tape, no tape etc. (shave test is also in the shaving notes)
Side benefit is you keep track of how many shaves between honing/touch up.

I have a rotation of nice razors but without the notes I would not realize that I was favoring one or two over the others.
This is also how I figured out how long the different Feather style blades would last.

And you might try fewer passes on the .5 Diamond but don't wait so long.
Keep notes on your new razor and read some of the great threads about maintaining with pastes.
gssixgun had a fantastic long term test that I used as a starting point with great success.

Smooth Shaving...

Interesting that you keep a spreadsheet. I do also and it is very helpful to go back and look at results. I am at 321 shaves with the sr now and have tons of info to look back on