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

Hi all SRPers

Well I am now well and truely confused! Just watched a Howard Schechter video and it would seem that I have been doing everything wrong. Has anyone else seen any of his videos with regards to straight razors? What are your thoughts? It seems that taking your razor to a strop removes the burr left behind from honing and leaves an edge that is rough. He sounds quite knowledgable. I would be interested to hear what others think about this.

I think you are misunderstanding his views. He doesn't like honing compounds on his strops and he prefers about 10 strokes on the strop (no pastes). I do the same, so I'm compelled to say that's reasonable. I personally don't find any problem with more strokes on a strop. 60-100 doesn't cause any trouble for me. He says he prefers to hone to 30K and doesn't need to strop. I'm likely to agree with this perspective too. I wouldn't hone that high and I prefer to strop, but I know I can skip stropping anywhere above 12k.

I agree with his sentiment that you should keep a razor sharp. I don't agree that a dull razor compels you to go down to 1k. And, although I disagree with that, I wouldn't put too much credibility into a comment of an expert that's just chatting. It's easy to take a comment out of context. His point was simply . . . why let a razor get dull?

I assume you are referring to this video?

http://youtu.be/WcxgvywdgRw

Hi
Howard is a new name on the scene to me and that video link is correct. I think a lot of what he has to say is perfectly reasonable and as I say he comes across quite a knowledgeable guy. I've never heard anyone talk of removing the burr on a strop only to make the edge worse. I'm sure he said he had observed the effects of stopping under a microscope and seems to suggest that it doesn't have the effect that most would have you believe it does. I thought that strops of some description have been used to finish the edge of tool steels for many years for good reason but his advice seems to contradict that a little.

Originally Posted by 337edy

Hi
Howard is a new name on the scene to me

Howard was active on this forum 8-10 years ago. Haven't seen him in awhile. I haven't watched the video, but I'm happy with stropping my razors, and since every pro barber I've ever known, as well as every pro barber manual I've ever read, are 100% in favor of stropping the razor I'm sticking with it.

There is disagreement on whether to use linen/canvas, but no disagreement on the benefits of stropping with the leather of your choice. Of course good stropping technique is going to 'make it, or break it.' IMHO.

I don't know the man but it sounds like I would dismiss anything he said after ten minutes of listening to him. Just saying :<0)
If you ruin an edge stropping more than 10 laps your doing it ALLLll wrong.

This is the same guy who does the super fast honing going in both directions, with pressure?!? I say watch with the proverbial grain of salt. http://http://youtu.be/1z1voZKvGW8

Two things I'd like to comment on. First, the idea that more than 10 strops deteriorates the edge. Stropping concentrates most of the pressure on the very edge, as opposed to honing , which distributes the pressure over the whole bevel. Stropping refines the edge. The optimum edge is attained when stropping smoothes all the hills and valleys into a more or less straight edge. Any stropping past this point starts to deteriorate the edge, because it is increasing the 12 - 14 degree ultimate angle. The angle increases to a point where it is no longer comfortable to shave and then it's back to the hone. I can't comment on the statement about stropping making an edge rough because I'm overseas in an area with rubbish reception and can't view the video ( do they still call them videos, or am I showing my age?). Does it matter whether you do 10 or 100 strops (stroppings?). Maybe this guy has researched that (once again, wish I could see the video), but I think the difference is academic to most of us. The amount of wear done between 10 and 100 is negligible, so long as the pressure is light to medium and your technique is adequate
.
The second point I'd like to comment on is the one made about keeping a razor sharp. Once again, I haven't viewed the video, but from years of butchering and having been taught by the best, you're better to do a few strokes on your steel after hitting bone or cutting for a minute or two, than you are to plough away with a half-sharp knife, then try to re-sharpen. Yes, i know knives and SRs are different. I've worked with both, the theory is the same: Sharp! Using a pasted stop? My jury is still out on that one. Opinions please gentlemen

I guess whatever works for a person...... do it!
Millions of opinions on techniques, "what to do, "what not to do".......

Always learn something new and try it out. If it works, great, if not....move on.

I was told when I was a very young man...... "Listen and learn from the wisdom and knowledge from an older person....... They made it to their age for a reason."

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Howard was active on this forum 8-10 years ago. Haven't seen him in awhile. I haven't watched the video, but I'm happy with stropping my razors, and since every pro barber I've ever known, as well as every pro barber manual I've ever read, are 100% in favor of stropping the razor I'm sticking with it.

As Jimmy points out, Howard was THE source for Coticule hones back in the day and he was active on this forum. A lot of his newer knowledge appears to be sourced from sharpening woodworking tools, and as we all know... 'taint the same beast as shaving.

In woodworking, we are not concerned with a harsh feeling blade to the wood, we want to slice off as thin a slice of wood that we can, with a plane.... In shaving, we want to lop off the beard WITHOUT slicing off a thin layer of skin.

It seems Howard has been drifting away from straight razor honing and over to plane/chisel honing for woodworking, and yet he seems to infer that what is good in woodworking must be good in shaving.... and that is not always true.

Stropping a plane blade is probably not a good thing (it WILL reduce the sharpness the edge), but stropping a carving knife IS a good thing and is often done with pastes.


Wikipedia may not always the best source for information, nor might an individual posting contrary information on Youtube, necessarily be a reliable source, unless vetted by numerous other knowledgeable folks. I tend to ignore statements like "It's the way it's always been done" as "proof" that it is correct. Like any science, we develop theories and then let our peers poke holes in it if they can, and we try to keep an open mind to new theories, just in case something new has come to light. After all... everyone KNEW that the world was flat, everyone KNEW the Earth was the centre of all creation, until someone came up with a new theory that it wasn't, and let others attempt to poke holes in that theory.

SRP is a great source for information, it has a large group of people practising the art, and most get wonderful shaves doing what they are doing. It does not mean there is no better way to do things, any more than a Laser razor is the ultimate way of shaving.. The current state of straight razor shaving and maintenance is constantly being tested and probed for weaknesses, we still theorize and test new ideas (many of them probably old ideas, done in the past, only we don't know about it), and when we find something that seems to work better, we offer it to the rest of the members in hopes it will improve things for them.

All that said... it's pretty hard to improve on what barbers have been doing for decades. Their livelihood depended on happy customers. If, as a barber, your shaves did not measure up to someone else's shaves, you could be sure your customers would flock to that person's chair instead. And as we all know, barbers, stropped their razors between customers, and sometimes even between passes, on the same customer.

Regards


Christian

Well everyone's comments here have piqued my curiosity. Too much going on in the house right now but I'll be sure to grab my headphones & see what the fella has to say after wifey is asleep.