Questions on stropping technique
Hello, I know I am asking a very redundant question to many of you, but I would like to know a few things.
1) Do you strop using very little pressure all the time, or do you start with medium pressure then lighten up the pressure on your strop as you reach the end of your regiment in order to get a realigned edge?
2) Would a linen and fine finishing strop be recommended in the long run? I have a 15" leather hanging strop with a suede and regular finished side, as well as a 8" magnetic backing uneven leather strop and a 8" horse butt leather magnetic backing strop. The strops with magnetic backing have uneven surfaces so should I invest in a good multi-sided hanging strop?
When experimenting with stropping before shaving, I did 30 light passes on my hanging leather strop and then shaved with it. I felt some razor burn as the area I shaved was red so I thought perhaps I didn't strop enough. So after the shave, I went back and did another 30 passes and I tested for treetop arm hair cutting. Nothing, no bite to the edge. So I did 10 passes on 1 micron on balsa, and tested treetop again. It grabbed hairs but I could feel that it would be one heck of a rough shave if I tried that. So I stropped 10 times using medium pressure, then 15 times using light pressure (25 total) and the edge is more refined and will pass the treetop test. Then I did an additional 30 strops with light pressure to see how that would affect the edge and after that if failed the treetop test. So I am guessing that the number of passes on my strop should be somewhere between 25 and 50 passes on my strop?
Any help and insight would be appreciated!
Jake