Thread: Help with stropping technique please

Originally Posted by INstr8

I was talking about the razor I was using previously to this one. I sent in a dovo best 5/8 full hollow for honing. When I did that I got out the Aust 5/8 full hollow to shave with. The only sharpening the Aust has had was its initial honing.

The Aust was purchased as a gift, I looked at it briefly and put it away and haven't touched it until recently. That is why I'm so confused as to what could be wrong with the blade, it's hardly been used. Unless it came to me that way.

One thought. Depending on humidity a razor that is put "away" can rust at the edge.

Ah, ok. I'm sure that was clear before, I ran through the thread a little too fast. It really takes a lot of evidence to pile up before the problem becomes apparent over the Internet. In person this is a lot easier.

A wire tie works perfectly for the door knob strop mount. Leave some slack in the wire tie for strop mobility without binding...

In regards to pressure while stropping I have found that the downward pressure I apply with the razor towards the strop does not particularly lead to more edge pressure for me. I find that I can have a very gentle touch with the edge by carefully controlling how much rotational force I am applying with my fingers to drive the edge to the strop.

Inversely someone could very gently touch the strop and still twist with the fingers driving the edge to hard into the strop....although that would probably be really difficult and they would probably lift the spine! Not good!

In short pressure on the spine for me does not equate to edge pressure....just something to keep in mind. Wow I really don't know if that will help...it was much clearer in my mind before I started typing....

Generally I think you are doing pretty well, based on the time between the need to hone. I think you need to work on a few small things. The root cause might be that you are getting a little complacent. The strop needs some serious treatment, like hand oil, for several days. That scratching sound is too aggressive. I put all kinds of oils into my strop to keep it supple. I won't go into detail as I'm always experimenting instead of staying on course. The strop needs to come down a little. The stroke needs to slow down. You need more strop tension too. The edge will begin to get rolled from a perpendicular stroke. The edge should be angled when stropping (or an x pattern can help guard against rounding).

There are two ways to strop an edge. 1) rounding the edge slightly and 2) smoothing it, but maintaining the geometry. You've started rounding a little more than you used to. It isn't wrong, it's just different. What you should do is simply hone it (or get it honed) and follow the advice above and throughout the thread to try to extend maintaining your edge longer. A simple touch up honing is a very easy thing to accomplish and it's probably about time you dove in.

After listening/watching your stropping video a few times, I heard and saw a potential issue. The stropping sound seemed heavy to me, that might be the surface of the leather strop or it might be too much pressure. It's impossible to know for sure without being there, the blade on leather sounded too scratchy to my ears. The second thing I saw was the handle (scales) of your razor was at too much an angle to the blade, looked to be about 45 degrees or so. This will put more pressure on the blade to the strop. Try to keep the razor scales in line with the blade during your stropping, blade and handle should form a straight line. It might just be my opinion but you'll have better control over the razor "flip" and easier control over pressure.

First off I want to apologize for not getting back here sooner. It's been a heel of a work week and I and spent. Second I want to thank those who offered to help me outside of this thread and those who offered their constructive criticism. I have a lot to go over and research. If I am still having problems I will be back in touch. Third, given that I haven't slept since Thursday night I'm off to bed. So I will see you all in a bit.

Have a great weekend
INstr8

Watching your stropping video brought up a question I've had for a few weeks now. Like you, I'm kinda new at this. When I use my strop I stand much like you are standing, essentially at one end of the strop and doing laps that basically go away from me and then back. But I recently realized I have a harder time keeping a good hand position when the razor is at its farthest from me, and I think that affects my return stroke. Since then, I've taken to standing with the strop centered in front of me, doing left and right laps, and it makes it a whole lot easier to maintain a consistent stroke in both directions.

How do other people do it?
Maybe I have short arms.

Chris

ctgill, a question (or two....). How long is your strop? How long is your stropping path? A big mistake by new stroppers is the thought that you have to do the laps the entire length of the strop. In most cases most shavers will use a third to a half of the length per lap. I use about a 10" stropping length and tend not to use the same area of the strop each day I strop.

Its a 23" strop. I do tend to use most of the length, so shortening my laps would help. it sounds so obvious a solution when someone mentions it.
Thank you vey much.