Thread: Should I hone after new strop?

Hey guys, this is my first thread on here. Sorry if this was previously asked but wanted some clarification before I do anything.

Here's the story:
I got a 5/8" Thiers Issard Straight Razor from the Art of Shaving as a birthday gift a year ago. Wasn't shave ready so I sent it in to Lynn to get it honed and it was amazing. I had the Dovo 2" strop but have since thrown it away since I beat it up learning how to strop correctly and wanted to get a new 3" strop.

Now here's the big question/scenario:

I've maintained the sharpness since it was honed with the usual stropping as I got better. But, my cousin who lives with me used it one day (or tried to use it) and upon stropping and trying to shave with it I noticed it had dull points. More specifically it was sharp throughout the blade but dull in the center. That's when I found out my cousin had used it. I have since disinfected it and all that good stuff. Now what should I do? Regardless I need a new strop which I will purchase but will that do it or do I need another hone and start researching on hones, buying the hones, etc?

Again, I apologize if this was previously mentioned. Thank you in advance for any help/advice!

If you have done this long with one honing, you don't have to buy stones, just send it in and have it honed again, then hit your cousin on top of the head for using your razor. Now if your honing it all the time from crappy stropping maybe get you a hone or a barbers hone is inexpensive, but also not needed if your a one razor guy who strops right. Lately I have to send mine in because I try to hone. Tc

So do you not have any strop right now? It is possible that the edge might be able to be fixed with stropping, but that is much more difficult without a strop.

Anyway, stropping is always the way to start when trying to fix an edge and then working the way down the hones would be the next step. That is, try rescuing it with just the finishing hone. If that doesn't work then maybe the next one down will, but if that doesn't do it then you likely need to re-set the bevels.

Did you ask your cousin specifically what he did with the razor? That might help. Hopefully you had a nice discussion about boundaries after this screw up. Since he used your razor it seems fair for you to clean the bathroom with his toothbrush.

Bathroom,,,, toothbrush

Send it in, get strop, charge cousin.

If you already have a new strop on the way, there's no harm in seeing if it will bring the edge back. On the other hand, if you have managed to keep the edge sharp enough for an entire year with only a strop.... You'll be shocked when you try it after a honing!

My personal opinion, send it out for honing and if both the honing and new strop are coming from SRD, might as well bung them both in the same box.

As for chucking the old strop..... WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? Unless I lop a strop in half, and there's NO chance of saving it... fine, I'll toss it (but I WILL save the hardware), but if it's just nicked a bunch of times and it still works... hey, keep it as a spare! I have 5 strops here... one is my Dad's who was a barber. I found it last weekend and decided to try and get it back into usable condition. I started to think about it, and I realized it must be at least 75 years old. It's very rubber like.... kind of an odd feel but it looks to be the same condition as the one that Liam uses at the Waldorf (check youtube). He strops on a scary slack strop.... Anyway, the point is that when I took a closer look at this strop, which would have come off Dads barber chair (He owned Dicks barber shop, and at his busiest, he was across the street from Hudsons Bay down town in Winnipeg and there were 5 other barbers working in his shop), it wasn't exactly shy of nicks... in fact, there's too many to count. Never the less, it's what hung on his chair and he had customers who waited for him to serve them, over going to one of the other barbers in the shop.

So... send the razor in (it's past due), order a new strop, but dig the old strop out of the garbage if you can.... It was working fine when you last used it.... it will keep working fine until you cut it in half.

I don't have any of my Dads razors or his hones, never mind the Latherking he had, but I have his strop and it feels fantastic compared to ALL my other newer strops. My strops are great, look great and keep my razors at the ready for the next shave, but that 75+ year old strop from my Dad has a feel that cannot be duplicated.

Regards

Christian

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

If you have done this long with one honing, you don't have to buy stones, just send it in and have it honed again, then hit your cousin on top of the head for using your razor. Now if your honing it all the time from crappy stropping maybe get you a hone or a barbers hone is inexpensive, but also not needed if your a one razor guy who strops right. Lately I have to send mine in because I try to hone. Tc

Never honed before, in time I'll get into it but only been stropping. Lol trust, I exploded when I found out and hit my cousin pretty hard. They're going to cover the cost for honing it and for the strop.

Originally Posted by Utopian

So do you not have any strop right now? It is possible that the edge might be able to be fixed with stropping, but that is much more difficult without a strop.

Anyway, stropping is always the way to start when trying to fix an edge and then working the way down the hones would be the next step. That is, try rescuing it with just the finishing hone. If that doesn't work then maybe the next one down will, but if that doesn't do it then you likely need to re-set the bevels.

Did you ask your cousin specifically what he did with the razor? That might help. Hopefully you had a nice discussion about boundaries after this screw up. Since he used your razor it seems fair for you to clean the bathroom with his toothbrush.

Yes no strop at the moment and haven't used the straight since. Was going to get a brand new strop and either try stropping to save the edge, send it in to get honed or read up on all the honing material and start honing myself. I'll be honest, the thought of possibly messing up my razor terrifies me but I know in time I'll get into it. That's why I've been either curious on whether I should even bother and just send it in and get the strop so I can maintain and such.

Yes, my cousin did the normal stropping on linen then on leather BUT didn't actually do it with good form (had him demonstrate it and once I grabbed my razor back I decked him lol).

Originally Posted by kaptain_zero

If you already have a new strop on the way, there's no harm in seeing if it will bring the edge back. On the other hand, if you have managed to keep the edge sharp enough for an entire year with only a strop.... You'll be shocked when you try it after a honing!

My personal opinion, send it out for honing and if both the honing and new strop are coming from SRD, might as well bung them both in the same box.

As for chucking the old strop..... WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? Unless I lop a strop in half, and there's NO chance of saving it... fine, I'll toss it (but I WILL save the hardware), but if it's just nicked a bunch of times and it still works... hey, keep it as a spare! I have 5 strops here... one is my Dad's who was a barber. I found it last weekend and decided to try and get it back into usable condition. I started to think about it, and I realized it must be at least 75 years old. It's very rubber like.... kind of an odd feel but it looks to be the same condition as the one that Liam uses at the Waldorf (check youtube). He strops on a scary slack strop.... Anyway, the point is that when I took a closer look at this strop, which would have come off Dads barber chair (He owned Dicks barber shop, and at his busiest, he was across the street from Hudsons Bay down town in Winnipeg and there were 5 other barbers working in his shop), it wasn't exactly shy of nicks... in fact, there's too many to count. Never the less, it's what hung on his chair and he had customers who waited for him to serve them, over going to one of the other barbers in the shop.

So... send the razor in (it's past due), order a new strop, but dig the old strop out of the garbage if you can.... It was working fine when you last used it.... it will keep working fine until you cut it in half.

I don't have any of my Dads razors or his hones, never mind the Latherking he had, but I have his strop and it feels fantastic compared to ALL my other newer strops. My strops are great, look great and keep my razors at the ready for the next shave, but that 75+ year old strop from my Dad has a feel that cannot be duplicated.

Regards

Christian

Thanks Christian! Yes I'll see if I can dig up my old strop, think I have it in a box of stuff I have set to throw out and keep it as a spare as you suggested.

Yes, I plan on getting the strop from SRD as well as the razor honing service.

Thank you again, Christian, appreciate everything, you and everybody else helped a lot, especially telling me about your dad's old strop and the story with it.

Just for fun, I counted the nicks in Dads strop, and it was 33 in total, 10 on the right, 23 on the left. The strop has been sanded (or worn) over the years, and the impressed logo is too faded to figure out. Still, it's a great strop and one that I'm proud to use.

I should mention here, Dad never shaved with a straight razor himself, he always used Wilkinson Sword blades and a safety razor. I suspect it was a time issue for him, needing to get to work in the morning, never mind having to shave 20+ people a day on top of the hair cuts. He also swore by using a straight for layering hair in a hair cut, claiming it was superior to "thinning shears" so common these days. Today, Feather of Japan sells replaceable blade hair styling straight razors, which are used by many of the top notch hair stylists.... Who knew, my dad was a trend setter! <grin> I used to ask him to cut my hair with a straight when I was a kid... I loved the feel of the slight tug of the razor vs the buzzing of the electric clippers. I did however, chose to pass on the "warm ice cream" from the Lather King, something kids not in the know, got tricked by, once!

I hope you found your original strop.... yes it's only 2" wide, yes it has nicks... but it's your first strop... keep it as a trophy (and a spare), you'll be glad you did, down the road.

Regards

Kaptain "Nostalgia.... " Zero

Yeh it was common practice for old time barbers to use a straight to layer and thin hair with a razor, using a comb for the guide. They also use to trim around the neck and ears etc and if like my father you had bushy eyebrows, he'd give them a swipe too.