Thread: Help with stropping technique please

I can't seem to figure out how to change the thread title but there are pics and a vid below. A little back story for this razor. It is an Ralph Aust 5/8 round point purchased from a reputable dealer on SRP. It was given as a gift to me from my wife, so it had sentimental value. Given that , I didn't want it to be the razor that I learned on and messed up. So when I got it I made sure it would cut hair and put it up. I trusted the source so I wasn't to worried about it. I got another blade and learned on it. I recently sent that in to be honed. I decided to get the Aust 5/8 out and use it. I was getting ready to do a video tonight and noticed that the side of the blade with etching has been honed fully from edge to edge. The opposite side not so much. It looks like it has been touched only at the outer edges. I am not sure what would cause this. I haven't honed this blade at all. The only honing has been done by the vendor. So take a look at the pics and videos and let me know.

Originally Posted by INstr8

I can't seem to figure out how to change the thread title but there are pics and a vid below. A little back story for this razor. It is an Ralph Aust 5/8 round point purchased from a reputable dealer on SRP. It was given as a gift to me from my wife, so it had sentimental value. Given that , I didn't want it to be the razor that I learned on and messed up. So when I got it I made sure it would cut hair and put it up. I trusted the source so I wasn't to worried about it. I got another blade and learned on it. I recently sent that in to be honed. I decided to get the Aust 5/8 out and use it. I was getting ready to do a video tonight and noticed that the side of the blade with etching has been honed fully from edge to edge. The opposite side not so much. It looks like it has been touched only at the outer edges. I am not sure what would cause this. I haven't honed this blade at all. The only honing has been done by the vendor. So take a look at the pics and videos and let me know.

The blade may have a slight warp or uneven grind to cause the uneven looking honing but as long as the 2 sides of the bevel meet it should be sharp & shaveready.
Your stropping looks ok but I can't tell if you're doing an X stroke or not which may well be needed with that razor.
Also I don't like the height of your stropping setup but that's subjective.

onimaru55,

Using 3 in strop without an x stroke currently. I was struggling to find a place to affix my strop and hung it on a towel hook. I was surprised myself when I tried it and it worked.

Having been the original heavy handed stropper I'd venture to say that on tape you stropping looks good but I's also say lighten up on pressure. I look at stropping two ways. Light as a feather, meaning the weight of the razor only. The other way is imaging a plane landing and taking off as I do my laps so that the razor is flipped on it spine but the edge doesn't touch the leather for an inch or two, like in taking off and landing a plane. To cure my heavy handedness I've gone to bench strops. That helps me with the pressure factor.

Originally Posted by INstr8

onimaru55,

Using 3 in strop without an x stroke currently. I was struggling to find a place to affix my strop and hung it on a towel hook. I was surprised myself when I tried it and it worked.

If spine is warped you wont strop the high part of the bevel effectively without x stroke.
Door knob height is better for me but as I said , subjective.

Im with Oz use an x stroke. Ensure you get the whole edge dont just hope. It doesn't need to be big but it does need to be a x

Originally Posted by Johnus

Agree with the suggestion to use the diamond or CrO paste. I've also found that some razors benefit from using a Barber Hone. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to which razor needs the B Hone rather than just the pasted strop.

That just does not make sense.

Pastes, whether diamond or CroOx, will lightly touch up an edge. For an edge that is only slightly beginning to show reduced shave quality, one of those pastes may be sufficient.

A barber hone is capable of much more aggressive steel removal. It does not have to remove much, but it will be more aggressive that most pastes. A light touch with just a few strokes is all you need to bring your edge back.

Stropping looks good to me +1 on going a bit lighter. I attached a larger ring to my strop so I could loop it over the door handle which would be a better height for you IMO. Hope that helps

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

To cure my heavy handedness I've gone to bench strops. That helps me with the pressure factor.

Very nice razor and strop. Good stuff.

From the video, I slightly get the impression that the strop is being held a wee bit slack and that their seems to be a tad bit too much pressure being applied. Also, the angle is a bit steep for my liking.

Razofeld tagged something very important here. Pressure.

With a board strop, I find it very easy to maintain feather weight pressure and do many laps(I don't really worry about or care to much about speed). With a hanging strop, I was finding that the more fatigued my hand got, the more uncouncious pressure I was exerting on the blade. I just don't have that issue with the board strop. Much of this has to do with the angle and ability to change the orientation of the strop to my stroke wherever I feel the most comfortable.

Also, slow and steady laps. You can even go slower than that. Putting that strop flat on the table and watching the contact of the entire blade along the strop for each lap nice and slowly, I feel helps. Lots of laps aren't bad, and, if done right, very beneficial and, sometime, can right an off-feeling edge. This is not true if the laps are fast and sloppy. Slow wins the race here. Generally, I do 20-30 linen and a *minimum* of 60 on the leather. I frequently go much higher on the leather as I enjoy stropping. I do feel just fine stopping should I feel hand fatigue coming on. That's when danger lurks.

I hope my experiences can be of some help or food for thought.

Good to hear you are already on your way in this journey

Simon

I just watched the vid again (on phone before) and apart from possibly to much pressure it looks like the strop might have had a little twist to it. Try to keep it flat and you seemed to use a lot of hand movement for the flip which might affect your stropping as well. Will attach a vid as the stropping technique he uses is excellent
http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ing-video.html