Thread: 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

Some people use fabric first, others don't. It's up to you. But 40-60 strokes should do the trick, but you can always do more. 25 is likely too few.

You should use the finished side of your strop. The rough backs are generally only used with coarse pastes, as I understand it.

Ok then likely it's more my technique and pressure then. Great, thank you Moonshae.

Maybe the razor isn't honed properly , and technique when your new always needs work , but it comes with time , and light pressure is always a good idea , Your shaving technique may be the cause of the burn, but as your new and didn't tell us anything about the razor , it could definantly be the culprit too. Tc

It was my Ralf Aust I got from SRD. From experimenting I am inclined to say it is most likely me as far as shaving technique and possibly honing/stropping. Of course, there's always perhaps bad pre-shave prep as well.

Thanks Tc for pointing out all the various areas that I need to take a look at.

You might have rolled the edge... it happens.