Thread: Stropping a smiling razor?

Just wondering if there is anything different about stropping a razor with a smile. My Germania Cutlery works has a slight smile to it, and it seems to have dulled really quickly - I may have gotten 3 or 4 shaves out of it before it began tugging, and in my estimation it took way too many passes on the barber hone to get it good enough to make a passable shave. thinking if maybe there was some negative action in the stropping department, and just wondering if there's any difference in the technique for these?

I haven't notice anything different and a couple of mine have big smiles, that's not a lot of shaves before tugging, I get a few months out of mine with stropping, but I,m sure with as much give in a strop it doesn't matter, but there will be someone along who knows for sure, maybe edge ain't right. Tc

I don't have any with really big smiles, but I haven't noticed any difference with what I've stropped between a straighter edge and slight to medium smiles

I don't believe that there is any different technique needed, but you can test this for yourself. Try the same marker test used for honing. Gently mark the bevel and then take a single stropping stroke on each side. See what happens.

do you do x strokes when you strop your smilers? If you're just going straight up and down the strop you're may be missing the toe and heel areas.

Originally Posted by TwistedOak

do you do x strokes when you strop your smilers? If you're just going straight up and down the strop you're may be missing the toe and heel areas.

No, I kinda cant the blade 45 degrees so (hopefully) the strop gets the whole edge, and rely on the strop being flexible to conform to the edge. I was wondering if maybe I should be using a rolling x style pattern to strop, since that's what it's honed with.

I spent a lot of time on that edge, and I was confident it was right. The first couple of shaves were very clean, if a tiny bit harsh. I presumed that was just a pressure problem on my end of things. I checked to be sure the bevel meets properly, I don't see any shiny spots when looking straight down at it. Maybe I'll run it through the hones again tomorrow depending on how things go with the sharpie test.

Syptom suggest to me that the edge was not totally shave ready to start with. As the edge gave way, the strop was not enough to recover the edge.
A smiling edge is stopped the same as a straight, but using X pattern will permit you to favour the shape during the stroke.
As a foot note, try a pasted strop to see if you can bring the edge back to shave ready or a good dry linen.

If a razor has a slight smile a normal x stroke should work fine. With a nice big smile an x stroke with either heel or toe leading does the job.

I strop all razors with an x-stroke, and I allow just a bit of slack in the strop for smiling edges.

I have a tendency to use a windshield wiper motion when stropping a smiler. Maybe a habit from honing them. :<0)

Note : I use a paddle strop.