Thread: Stropping On The Hand, Again

I know we had this discussion a while back but just saw an example yesterday.

I am walking through the shipping area at my "real" job and see one of the workers rubbing something briskly across the palm of his hand. He either had the mother of all itches or something more clever was going on. Next to him on the table was a metal box cutter, taken apart and he had the single edge razor blade in one hand, briskly stropping it across the heel of the other hand.

So, where did he learn this? He is an El Salvadoran immigrant speaking minimal English so I was unable to get much in the details but obviously he was no stranger to what he was doing.

Tony

Using human leather?! Sick, but interesting.

My barber told me to do this to smooth out an edge. This way would also provide you with good feedback to learn how to strop without nicking the strop.

I'd rather nick a strop than my thumb..

Originally Posted by Kees

I'd rather nick a strop than my thumb..

I think careful hand stropping (to avoid nicking a thumb) may be a good way to get a new shaver to pay attention. After all, he (or she) will later put the edge to the skin actually cutting hair. Stropping on the hand strikes me as much less demanding and dangerous than that, but the mere possibility of a cut should raise the attention level?

However, I am not sure how good for the razor hand stropping is...

Cheers
Ivo

Originally Posted by Kees

I'd rather nick a strop than my thumb..

If you nick your thumb it will heal up. Your strop won't.

Originally Posted by mparker762

If you nick your thumb it will heal up. Your strop won't.

I guess conceivably you could cut a nerve or something and cause big damage...

but I am with you, I just sliced my thumb tip in a sanding accident and crazy glued it back - no problems whatsoever several days later.

Cheers
Ivo

Yeah, but if you've cut yourself with a razor you know you've got to be pretty determined to cut deeply; you would actually have to work at it. As soon as mine get in a millimeter they stick tight.

I don't have much experience cutting myself with razors but I WAS working - sanding accident, as I said

I guess everyone who does such work has had something like this, including Bill and the others - so I wasn't too worried. Other than the fact that now I may have microscopic steel particles in my thumb...

back to topic - who likes nicked strops... but from what I hear few people have used a strop and kept it totally nick-free. Guess we can start a poll to get more data

Cheers
Ivo

On the Maestro Livi DVD where he's making a razor in Scaperia, there's a barber from Rome (the guy Lynn went to see) there doing shaves at the end. He strops the razor Maestro Livi just made on his hand before shaving Maestro Livi and Lynn with it...