Thread: Stropping, huh, what is it good for?

Originally Posted by Sandycrack

ic approach, and dedication.

I'm just looking for the best conventional wisdom on what works and I'm 99% there.

Sandycrack

Stropping, like a lot of other things to do with shaving, draws plenty of differing opinions - your 99% today might be 75% tomorrow.

Thanks to the OP though - I think the photos do tell us a lot about the burnishing effect of linen and leather.

Loved the photos! At one of our last meets we too as a NC contingent had a USB scope and computer by a member to look at edges before and after some time on the stones. We did not do linen and leather that day. You could see real quick the effects of a touched up razor on a hone than it was prior of course and one would expect that.

Your in depth look into this just sheds light that whatever a persons method may be, whether using linen or web prior to leather, and whether using Cro-Mox prior to the linen or web then leather the effects will be better than not.

I have a ritual like most I am sure. If I am doing a full blade workup it is in this order for simplicity (without going into grit of stones and progression):

Stones
Cro-Mox
Linen or web
Strop

End is a shave ready razor that is rather sharp you might say that glides across my face for a super close shave.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

When something is done for years and years by professionals folks just seem to have problems believing it to be the truth. However time and time again we see the old way and materials are the best.

I agree! I don't get into the science of it, I just do it. But it is great to see what the OP has shown for sure to give those who may have never seen a edge under close inspection what it looks like.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

When something is done for years and years by professionals folks just seem to have problems believing it to be the truth. However time and time again we see the old way and materials are the best.

Hey Spender;
Do I read this correctly that linen is as good or better than leather? I've often done a few strokes on linen between passes and found quick improvement.
Also, Newbies might save their leather by using only the linen until their stropping technique is perfected

I would say no. Even if it isn't visible at this magnification the leather is still having an effect on the blade at the smallest level. If you check the link to Science of Sharp you can see what the leather is doing to make the shave smoother and more face-friendly.

To me, it seemed like the 25 strokes of linen gave a similar effect to 50 strokes on the leather (step 5 vs step 2). It did seem like 100 strokes on leather made it better, but not by very much from what I was seeing (step 3 vs step 2). Maybe I needed to observer a larger region. Also, another 25 stokes on the linen didn't seem to improve much to me (step 6 vs step 5).

At least that was my interpretation of the shots - granted with reflections as lighting it is hard to assess.

Nice shots and all but the part that matters you can't see :<0)

Linen and leather are 2 different things. Linen generally goes first to remove dirt from the blade and do most of the heavy lifting of stropping. I wash my linen when it gets dirty and way more often than my leather.

Another experiment you could do is stropping on different kinds of leather. Progressive stropping. You may not be able to see a difference but you MAY be able to feel the difference. Once again it's not what you see but what you feel.

I've never really been able to interpret close-up pics very well, but those look to be nicely taken.

Here's what I think. No one has a problem with a grit progression when honing. Start with a low grit (large particle size) to take off lots of metal. Then progressively work your way up to a point on the hones where you are polishing the metal with a very very fine grit.

So what's the next step? Polish the edge with the finest of grits - no grit. Leather.

That's stropping.

James.

I have been looking at edges under a light microscope myself quite often. I found that the the amount of light and varying the angle between the light source and the blade can make things look very different.
If you look really well at the pictures in the OP that are used to prove the difference stropping can make you will see that the lighting is different. Just look at the part of the blade beyond the bevel. This may make the differences before and after look larger than they are in reality.
Looking at the pictures of scienceofsharp it makes me wonder whether the effects of stropping are very significant. Even at such magnifications the differences before and after are very modest. The burnishing effect of linen stropping is most significant IMHO.