Thread: Stropping too much?

Didnt Gssixgun do a strop test, where he stropped a razor umpteegazillion strokes just to prove it wouldnt damage an edge?

I think so. There was also a group that used the same razor and stropped everyday on a pasted strop to see how long until the bevel rounded out and the razor needed to be rehoned and the results of that one were that everyone got bored after a substantial time had passed and nobodys edge was ruined. here have been a few runs at stropping tests and the only results have been if it is done well it does not matter if you strop 50 or a million times, it's all good and you can strop daily on a pasted strop for maintenance and it is just fine too. I do not think your razor would last 100 years with 100 asses a day on a pasted strop but i am not going to spend the rest of my life with one razor on a pasted strop just to find out either. :-)

"Strop often...And prosper!"

If you are stropping on a strop with diamond, CBN, or CrOX abrasive pastes or sprays, you want to limit the number of strokes. This is to prevent the edge from becoming too harsh. FeOx paste is gentle so it should not have this issue.

Excessive stropping on clean cloth or leather may not improve the edge, but it won't hurt it as long as your stropping technique is good.

There is one member here who decompresses by honing on a surgical black Arkansas stone for a couple of hours at a time. With a lot of stones, that amount of honing would remove too much metal, but with the Arkansas stone the edge just becomes burnished.

I wish I had the patience to hone or strop for hours.

I did a little test today, I put on some Jonny Cash and stropped 1000 laps to see if the edge degraded. I did 200 on Chromexel, 200 on Horween Latigo, 200 on 2 different Shell and 200 on a Kanayama. I had to take a 5 min break half way through as I didn't want to loose concentration.
I was rewarded with an exceptional shave, no degrading whatsoever. Whether it was any better than my usual 40 linen 60 leather I couldn't say but without a doubt it didn't harm it.
With stropping I feel whatever works for you, works. Sometimes I get lost in the moment and just keep going, I definitely get a zen like feeling with steel and leather in my hands.

Wow. I feel like I'm not stropping enough. Probably about 60 combined before & after each shave. I may be an underachiever

No underachievers here, to each their own. If it works for you then it's what to do

Thanks guys, at the moment I'm only stropping at about half speed, want to get my form right first.

Originally Posted by 5G62

Wow. I feel like I'm not stropping enough. Probably about 60 combined before & after each shave. I may be an underachiever

I usually only do 25 linen, 50 leather. I'd do less but...OCD and I like those numbers I guess? No logic to it really.

But when I'm screwing around just to see what happens the game changes a bit and the count can go through the roof. So far, I haven't managed to kill any edge with good stropping. I only had issues when using excess pressure, strop too loose, spine lifted, etc. Bad form. If excessive stropping exists, it must be incredibly hard to achieve.

I mentioned pastes because they have are by and large more abrasive than linen and leather alone. If I can't harm/ruin an edge on something that noticeably abrades metal by stropping on it more than 'needed,' have a field day with the linen and leather. Strop a few hundred, or even a few thousand times if you want. I don't think it's possible to hurt most edges with good stropping on plain material.

Originally Posted by RezDog

I think so. There was also a group that used the same razor and stropped everyday on a pasted strop to see how long until the bevel rounded out and the razor needed to be rehoned and the results of that one were that everyone got bored after a substantial time had passed and nobodys edge was ruined. here have been a few runs at stropping tests and the only results have been if it is done well it does not matter if you strop 50 or a million times, it's all good and you can strop daily on a pasted strop for maintenance and it is just fine too. I do not think your razor would last 100 years with 100 asses a day on a pasted strop but i am not going to spend the rest of my life with one razor on a pasted strop just to find out either. :-)

I did have to shave an ass once. It was gross, and I dont even want to think of 100 asses a day!