Palm Stropping it's amazing!!!
Or is it just me? Its really bringing a new level of sharpness to my straight razor. You guys probably already know this but here where I learned it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DX0AkmnVyU
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Palm Stropping it's amazing!!!
Or is it just me? Its really bringing a new level of sharpness to my straight razor. You guys probably already know this but here where I learned it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DX0AkmnVyU
Am I the only one who thinks this is a good way to end up in the ER?
Me, holding a bloody t-shirt to my hand: "I was palm-stropping?"
Dr.: "You were WHAT?! (Nurse, call psych services in for a consult").
Having said that, I know some guys do it and swear by it, so have fun with it-just no mis-strokes allowed!
By the way, I spent a lot of time in Dublin last summer (really all over Ireland). Loved the people and the pubs! You live in a beautiful country.
I had a friend that had an arrow explode as he was shooting it. It hit him in the wrist and base of the thumb. When he went to the ER they asked him what happened and he said "I shot myself."
He said he got very quick service!:rofl2:
I think that this technique is very similar to the macho showmanship with the loose strop, much loud noise, and slapping shows that are and have been displayed by barbers.
JMHO
Used while honing to quickly see the "true" Edge minus the sparklies = good idea
Used in place of Linen and Leather of a real strop = Not so good idea
thanks for sharing. i'll have to give it a try again.
The guy in the video is an old school Italian Barber. He indicated the practice is widespread among barbers and has been for atleast a couple of generations. He says that this doesn't replace using a strop, but is done before each pass, with very light pressure for a few times.
Here in the US, it's a common practice to palm strop PFTE Coated GEM razor blades when they are brand new, for use in a single edged safety razor, something I've done many times myself. The key is soft pressure and paying attention.
Put it this way…
I NEVER would recommend that a beginner palm strop. The reason is really (sorry England) bloody obvious. On the other hand, if you are a competent stropper and do not damage your strops, then you will not damage your strop either.
I have used it when traveling. I have used it after regular strops. I cannot say that I have noticed any improvement beyond a regular strop but I also don't think that it is of any harm to your razor and it might be of benefit. :shrug:
I don't doubt the legitimacy of doing it, and certainly Maestro Livi is one of the old school gurus of all things straights-I would just be afraid to myself. This kind of reminds me of the shower in my father in law's lake house in the highlands of Guatemala. There is an electrical contraption in the shower that you have to switch on to get hot water, but you have to do it a certain way that was translated to me...sort of...
First time I tried it, I felt a distinct tingle of electricity, and got out with the soap still on me! Though I was told "Everybody uses it-it's safe!" I was more like "Eff that, I'm not" and "showered" the rest of the week with a bucket at the outside spigot. They all thought I was weird (still do).
But then, hey-I guarantee you that almost everybody on this forum is considered weird just for doing that whole weird straight shavy thing by at least some of their friends, regardless of how they strop!
:roflmao:rofl2::roflmao:roflmao:rofl2:
Great story!
I do it when I need to insert a new blade into my Feather AC razor that I take with me on those trips where a classic straight razor is impractical.
Once I tried it; I found there is reallly not much to it and it is one way to tame the initial harshness out of fresh Feather AC blades.
For shaving with my "real" straights, I use it only rarely.
B.
Great idea, it's up there with shaving your privates, with a straight razor.
I use palm stropping, and yes, I picked it up from that same video. Would I recommend others do the same thing? Absolutely not. As a 2 pass shaver, I only do it for the second pass. I don't think anything beats linen and leather, which I use just prior to the first pass. During my early days of straight shaving, when I did cut myself, it was almost always on the second pass. When I began palm stropping, those cuts all but went away. I don't know that palm stropping refines the edge any, but it does bring a sharper focus to my sense of touch.
I first saw my barber do it when he was teaching me to hone.
I too do it when honing.
it also is a good travel strop, in a pinch. Just go slow and pay attention.
In a world where the government would have us shaving with a wet sponge for health and safety concerns, I love it because as it works for me. Just be careful.
Just lather them fingers down with some chromium oxide and you're off to the races!
:rofl2:
Aloha!
Yikes. Not for me. I don't know anyone that palm strops, and personally, I'd never consider it. I let the leather strop do that risky work. I can appreciate how when traveling, palm stropping may be "handy" so to speak, but I have a travel strop (leather), and I'm sticking with that. There are probably guys that probably even "Thigh Strop", although avoiding the femoral artery when you thigh strop is paramount. :)
And like someone posted earlier, I can just hear the ER conversation.
Doctor: "How did you cut your hand so severely?"
Patient: "I was stropping my Razor"
Doctor: "You were what?"
Patient: "You know, like when Barbers used to sharpen straight razors with a leather strap?"
Doctor: "Oh, I see. And you slipped and caught your hand somehow?"
Patient: "No, I was using my hand as the strop."
Doctor: "Ummmmm, right. OK, well, I'm just an ER Physician. You need a Psychiatrist."
Hats off to you brave gents that palm strop. I'll leave it to you. I'm sticking with leather.
Mahalo!
-ZipZop
I just found this recent thread when searching on hand / Palm stropping. I too am intrigued by Mastro Livi's use of the technique. Lately I've been using it after the shave cleaning up before returning to the truck. I use it as a method of cleaning the residue off the blade. Once back in the truck I do a full clean, web / leather stropping, and baby oil.
I was struck by how much pressure M. Livi actually uses. Anyone else notice how the blade pops off his hand? I'm doing much the same, doing about 15-20 laps. Gotta remember, spine leading.
I can get why this practice was used by oldschool barbers but for the love of god i can't see the science behind it.
We use hides from grass eating animals to make strops because the high silicate concentration in the 3-rd layer of the skin bound in a dense colagen matrix (a consequence of their diet of grass:rofl2:)...this layer is exposed by taning and mecanicaly removing the superficial layers of the skin that re mostly glands and epitelial cells.....this translates to extremly fine abrasion from the silicates and friction burnishing effect from the colagen fibers.
...and i can get how that can hlp an edge.
but i can't see how our own skin that has realy lower content of silicatesand the colagen fibers are not exposed due to the fact that we are not taned :))...
I realy cant see what this does to the edge other then cleaning...
But if it works for you...hell...why not....it looks cool...and gets the blod flowing for sure.
After watching those Mastro Livi videos and seeing him demonstrate how cutting cloth dulls an edge, I stopped wiping the lather off my razor on a towel and started wiping it onto my palm, which I then wipe on the towel. I also palm strop a couple of times during a shave. But I always use a leather strop before shaving.
I do think some combination of not wiping my razor on the towel and palm stropping really improved the quality of my shaves. Not sure which one counted more though.
I watched the same video months ago when I was starting with straights and use palm stropping since then. Mainly for cleaning the blade while honing, prior to inspection. I do few x strokes on the pinky side of the palm (hypothenar). No trips to ED yet.
i dont really know about effectiveness on this technique, i will certainly try it.
as for some of us here being afraid of ending up in ER because you are gently and carefully dragging a razor across your palm? get real. you are scraping the razors “edge” across your neck and face. which is worse?
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I do it with lovely old wedges. It's just fun! :)
Besides......Chicks dig it! :D
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Iwork in the ER... i'm a trauma surgeon...you wouldn't belive the things I have seen can happen from misusing a sharp blade...just last week I was patching up the fingers of a sushi chef...he was choping some stuff up and turned away for a fraction of a second to answer a coleague...ended up slicing trough the extensor tendons and needed reconstructive surgery and stiching...
I have my reasons to be affraid:)) I know it is a safe fun and handy way to stropp but the feel of the steel on the palm of my hand gives me goosebumps:)) rolf.
But that's just me...i'sure most people dont have a problem with it and with practice one can master this technique relatively fast.
What you said reminds me of a quote from Iwasaki's ''honing razors and nihon kamisoris'' book he published to aid barbeers who were misshoning razor and the not using stones properly.
He emphasised on the importance of clean hands and water when honing...also not honing in a workshop where dust and debry from grinding sets on all surfaces...
But it is true what you say...I do a lot of restoration work and the grinding and sandingndust gets in your skin...true...but I dont think itnhelps taht much:)
i have experimented with palm stropping off and on through the years and honestly, I cant seem to detect any difference of improvement to the blade. Probably a good way to embed a colony of bacteria onto your edge if care is not taken:rofl2: but then again i have always had too much faith in my own immune system. The more I hear about Iwasaki and his methods the more I realize what a pedantic character this guy must of been, I couldn't be like him because i would be up at night thinking about all the errant grit particles floating around my house trying to kill my edge, Ignorance is bliss I guess. Ill take it clean hands is a good thing around sharp objects. Interesting discussion.
I’ve been using palm stropping regularly for some weeks now. I do all my pre and post preparations in the truck before going to the shower at the truck stop. After shave as I’m cleaning and packing up I’ll palm strop 10-20 strokes for cleaning and drying purposes. Once back in the truck I’ll do all my post shave cleaning and stropping. Focus, yes; worried, no.
Only time I've palm stropped was tinkering with scraper blades at work. Used a set of Arkansas stones to make them sharper than they come from the factory. Then palm stropped the edge - mostly to see the look on my co-worker's face. It was priceless.
But straight razors at home? Nah. I paid good money for a strop so I could slip and cut it rather than myself. So far I've done a rather poor job of that. The only nick on my SRD strop is the one I put there intentionally when I unwrapped it to get that first one out of the way. Maybe my old neighbor's superstition was right and it really is good luck to put that first scratch on a new thing yourself right away?
I don't get the concerns about palm stropping. I don't like putting my razor under running water because I don't want it to be wet, so I always wipe my blade on the palm of my hand. Then I wipe my hand on a towel. I don't wipe the blade directly on the towel because the towel folds over and can dull the blade but my palm doesn't do that. Sometimes I palm strop between passes if I feel it'll help (I'm not actually sure it does).
Anyway, I'm no wonder of coordination -- not a great shot with a handgun, not a good dancer. Best I can say is I'm pretty good at working with hand tools. But I've never cut myself palm stropping. Just need to move the blade spine leading not edge leading is all, so it seems to me that anyone who can do that shouldn't be worried. It's a lot easier than shaving your face with a razor!
Heard of this before, but haven't really tried it. I'd rather have a little more surface area to work with.
One thing is a little strange to me. When you buy a Strop, you want it to be smooth and free of creases. You strop on your skin, you use an area full of creases. Just a thought.
If we ever see a guy with one palm green and the other red, we'll know why!
I'll probably keep using towels like a savage.
It's a pretty 'handy' technique to have in your arsenal (heh heh heh)... Obviously not for beginners.
Hunter is a fan: https://youtu.be/c6ItwxxeF3Q?t=3m43s
Not a fan of Mastro Livi razors, but all of the tutorials on honing, stropping, shaving etc, are very good.
Palm stropping during a shave works for me, although I wouldn't recommend it unless you haven't destroyed a strop for at least 3 years.
Look on the bright side, if you nick your "strop" with this technique it will fix itself...
This is right up there, with using a straight razor to shave your privates.
I palm strop before my ATG pass. Seems to help a bit.
Can you use any part of your anatomy?