Thread: Beginners mistakes

Some people have mentioned if you go to slow, you won't improve the edge. I didn't reeeaally take this to heart, but my process is to go faster inbetween flips. Slow down before and just after the flip, ensuring good contact with the leather.

Stop, then flip.

Speed, has nothing to do with the quality of stropping the edge.

Speed comes naturally, paying attention is the most important thing.

After stropping razors for over 40 years, I find something as minor as talking to someone while stropping can affect the stropping quality or cut a strop.

When my bride speaks to me or walks behind me while stropping, I just stop stropping.

Pay attention…

And always strop sober...

Originally Posted by Euclid440

After stropping razors for over 40 years, I find something as minor as talking to someone while stropping can affect the stropping quality or cut a strop.

When my bride speaks to me or walks behind me while stropping, I just stop stropping.

Pay attention…

Couldn't agree more. The only nick on my strop came when I was stropping while talking to my wife. I "over flipped" the razor, coming down on the strop with the edge.

I usually shave well after everyone went to bed, so I can take my time.

I am fairly new to all of this, and I did a lot of reading before I bought anything. I started with a 3" paddle strop, this negates the need for the x pattern and is rigid so that I didn't have to worry about tension. Once I got the hang of that I moved to a 3" hanging strop. I was so excited about it that I hung it straight away and thought I would give it a go and on my first and I do mean first lap I was over exuberant and nicked it. Needless to say I was gutted. Luckily it was way up near the logo at the top and hasn't affected the use in any way.

Yesterday I thought I was good enough to try a little more speed, and I dropped my razor! This has chipped the edge and it now needs to go back to be repaired. It is only a very small chip, but big enough to damage face and strop if used. I would just say from a bad experience, take your time, concentrate and everything else will fall into place.

The only good thing about dropping my razor is that I managed to talk the wife into the need to get a "back up" razor. RAD all over again, I had the same issues with DE razors, I think I need help

Don't try to run before you can walk.

very useful info here, saved me a few posts I would have been
Thanks everybody!

Stropping, like honing, and like shaving the left side of your face with your left hand is about 'muscle memory' You learned to write with a certain hand? Well stropping is even more simple than that. Pick a side and strop away. First thing; Buy a cheaper 3 inch wide strop, latigo, anything. 3 inches means no need for lateral movement (No x stroke). Forget what the videos of stropping show. If you have a cordovan strop and you hack a big bit out of it, you are the goose who has to replace it!

One thing worth mentioning, is the speed you use when using the prep part of your strop. Assume you have a 3 Inch Latigo with a canvas 2nd. I'll wager you have never cut the canvas, never nicked it, but are still able to zing away at it, fast as can be. Then, something happens in your head when you get to the leather. I call it the stropping 'Yips'. Like putting, you hands wrists go to bloody jelly, and as sure as night follows day, you've hacked bits out of the thing. It's in the mind. Try and forget that it's a $300 shell strop, just strop like you do with the canvas bit. Ask around, Who on this page has hacked up their 2nd piece....

Well part of that is the weave is harder and slicker than leather, that grabs the edge. A weave redirects the edge.

I have stropped edge forward with a nylon and canvas strop and it will not grab the edge. Try this only if you are going to hone the razor.

Although there is probably something to what you say, kind of like, hitting a golf ball over water…

Something that helped me in the beginning is that the angle you leave the scales at can affect the balance of the razor, especially full hollows. with a little effort at the beginning, the scales can be angled slightly so that flipping the razor no longer requires any conscious attention. Makes it feel more like rolling a pencil in your fingers than flipping 4 inches of deep laceration, frees up that little bit of attention so it can be spent on smoother stops & starts. The flip side of that is if you don't pay attention to what angle you set the scales it can throw the whole thing off, requiring your undivided attention when flipping to avoid lifting part of the spine or slamming the edge back down too hard. After a while your hand gets more tolerant about it, but starting out this can make a big difference.

One problem I had when I started was going too slow. You need to go slow, yes, but have enough speed that the motions can stay smooth & not wavering. Going too slow and coming to a full stop before flipping caused my one significant strop cut. My hands tend to shake a bit all the time, except when I'm shooting or holding a razor close to my neck. Being a little extra unsteady from stropping too slowly, when I stopped the razor it slid a tiny fraction backward and to the side, leaving a shallow cut straight across the leather, paper thin like when you stop a razor & hold it there for an instant before lifting it off your face. It was high enough on the strop I didn't do anything to fix it and just pretended the leather was a couple inches shorter. Stropping just a tiny bit faster would have prevented that. It's like riding a Harley in a parade. Gotta maintain just enough speed to keep your feet off the pavement. Still slow, but only as slow as you can manage and still make nice smooth swipes with your ups & downs. Don't go so slow that you start wandering around on the leather.