Thread: To strop or not to strop. (Howard Schechter) Videos

I recently was passing through Howard's neck of the woods, and stopped in with him for about an hour and a half of honing, razor talk, and conversation on a range of topics, many of them having nothing to do with razors. Having spent some time with him, seeing how his approach works, and having shaved with some razors we honed while I was there, I thought it worth a revisit to this thread to share my experiences.

First off, Howard is a a great guy, a fun hang, and has a depth of knowledge about, and passion for, razors, Blades, and hones that is second to none. He was extremely generous with his time and knowledge, to the point of arguably costing him some business, as the things he taught me are going to cause me to require fewer honings. Even if One is skeptical of his methods, a conversation with him as well worth one's time.

Now down to brass tacks; what are the edges like? The short answer is that the edges are good, and indeed are shave worthy sans stropping. I will say, however, that I don't know that they were noticeably better than honings I've had done by other reputable sources; as with most things, there is more than one way up The mountain. What I do think Howard's methods bring to the table is speed and efficiency in honing; if he hadn't been stopping to explain each step to me, and letting me try my hand at some of the steps, I'm pretty sure he could've had each of my razors done in about 10 minutes. He also is extremely adept at spotting issues with The geometry of the blade, and knowing how to correct them to make the honing process easier.

Finally, to speak to the The original controversy of the thread, I think his stropping technique, well unconventional, is actually very carefully considered, and is an outgrowth of his interest in keeping the process from being overly time-consuming. While I don't want to put words in his mouth, I think he would argue that the additional pressure he puts on the edge during stropping means he can accomplish in 10 strokes what it takes others 50 or 60 to do, and that if one can accomplish a task in less time with less effort, while maintaining comparable results, why not do that? It's not to say that other methods don't work, just that they take more time than is necessary.

At any rate, I hope this post is useful to anyone trying to make sense of the last 10 pages of comments, and I encourage anyone with questions on his approach to give him a call.