Thread: A curious observation..

I've tried different ways of stropping and have settled lately on a method that's comfortable and produces the desired results. So, I had to go and mess with things.

I am currently experimenting with a type of pyramid stropping. Here is what I do:

10 passes on the linen
10 passes on the leather
10 passes on the linen
20 passes on the leather

What I'm noticing is that I get a more consistent, even draw and that the edge is more comfortable to shave with and I get an even closer shave (which was already very close).

I'm the first one to admit this might be totally useless and unrelated but it has me curious. If the better results are, in fact, a result of this little pyramid structure, why?

Anyone care to opine?

Originally Posted by steve

Anyone care to opine?

Well, not in public and certainly not on my strop.

Seriously though, I haven't got a clue about this one. Could you be imagining it? Could it be that you're merely paying more attention to your stropping?

X

Originally Posted by steve

I'm the first one to admit this might be totally useless and unrelated

Originally Posted by xman

Could you be imagining it?

Yep, could be

Steve,

That's pretty interesting. I'll give it a try and let you know if it does anything for me.

Josh

Its not a pyramid, its very common. Transitioning from leather to linen is a common method for better stropping. The linen creates gross alignment the leather fine alignment. They work best when used together, thus the typical strop design. Some guys believe it doesn't help (the linen) at all but you'll note in the barbers manuals they say "it depends on your honing abilities".

Your not crazy at all.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Its not a pyramid, its very common. Transitioning from leather to linen is a common method for better stropping. The linen creates gross alignment the leather fine alignment. They work best when used together, thus the typical strop design. Some guys believe it doesn't help (the linen) at all but you'll note in the barbers manuals they say "it depends on your honing abilities".

Your not crazy at all.

The only reason I call it a type of pyramid is that I go back and forth (linen/leather/linen/leather) in one session right before I shave. Just as someone might take a 4k/8k Norton and do a 1-3,1-5, I'm taking both sides of the strop and do a 10-10,10-20.

I'll give this a try as well this morning and let you know how it goes, but generally I think linen then leather for 20-30 passes should be as good as it gets.

Originally Posted by xman

Could it be that you're merely paying more attention to your stropping?

X has a good point...you could be paying more attention to your technique with this pyramid method.

Ahhh I follow. I think its still better to vascilate back and forth but its hard to percieve much difference from linen then leather in a single set of each.