Thread: Best stropping technique

What is the best way to strop a razor on a 3 inch strop?

Originally Posted by matt

What is the best way to strop a razor on a 3 inch strop?

Ok, I'll give this a shot...

How about this - there are these barber manuals written about the 1920's and re-published all the way through 'till about the 1960's. The manual was put together by the Associated Master Barbers (and Beauticians) of America.

Supposedly what they did was look at all the various techniques employed by barbers (I'm assuming in America only) for the previous 50-75 years, or so, and decided on what they thought were the best techniques to use for a standardized system of barbering. They assumedly discarded all the rest. Not that the other methods didn't work, just that there were better, more efficient? more reliable? methods that they kept. I have to trust that they put some serious thought into this.

I think there is a copy of one from the 60's in the SRP archive.

Now there will be a bunch of opinions from others here and it will basically come down to you trying everything and deciding what works for you.

Personally I don't think it matters the width of the strop. The diagonal stroke (essentially the same as the "X" stroke) illustrated in the manual seems to work the best. But again, read the paragraph preceeding this one.

Good luck,


Scott

Technically you can go straight up and down on the strop but when it comes to stropping I'm pretty traditional even though I have a wider strop also I still use an X motion. Is it better? I don't know but it works good for me and I have no reason to alter my routine. However if your starting out I encourage you to experiment and then report back to us.

I agree with Scott but I'll try to throw my .02 in in two sections.

1) Pretty much the same way you strop on a 2-2 1/2 inch strop.

2) If you hold the razor edge upward, I put my thumb on the jimps at the top of the shank and use my thumb to gently torque the edge into the strop. Very lightly, assuming the razor is sharp, should attain a draw on the strop. Very light passes. Keep the strop taught and keep the razor moving. I use an x pattern when I strop, but I don't find that straight down really does anything worse. I twirl the razor with my fingers but let my thumb control the action. This technique takes practice.

More important than width, I think, is suppliness. A hard strop requires a different sensitivity over a more supple one.

If I don't attain a draw, and some strops never do, I strop on linen first. Second I'll add pressure, just a tad to see if that'll do it. If that fails I'll hone. Adding too much pressure is bad.

Matt,

Alan and Scott are the guys to listen to on this one. (And many other things, too. )

I have a theory that guys with tough beards need stropping more than guys with average beards. Seems intuitive, anyway. I had a problem for a long time where I would hone a razor, use it for three shaves, and wind up with razor burn on the third shave. No problem--I'll just rehone it.

After a while, I realized this probably wasn't good. And I decided that my stropping was the problem.

What I've done recently is started stropping the night before, when I'm more awake and less hurried. I'll mess around for a while, trying the linen and leather in different combinations, trying different strokes and amounts of pressure...

I'm figuring out what I need to do to extend the life of my edges. Right now, I start out by applying some pressure as I strop, like Alan said. I'll do maybe 30 strokes with some pressure, then I start to lighten it. I finish with 30 fast, light strokes. Sometimes I'll use the linen to start; sometimes I'll bounce to the linen after doing the strokes with pressure. I haven't settled on a routine yet.

The pressure thing is a little controversial, but it works for me when nothing else did.

We spend a lot of time learning to hone, then go to the strop and expect that 30 quick passes will do the trick. Experimenting with and learning how to use your strop is more important than learning to hone, though. You can send a razor out to be honed, but you have to strop for yourself.

It's worth looking up and reading a thread called "Stropping is king." Scott wrote that one.

Good luck,
Josh

I think the X motion is probably better even with the wider strops.

X

I agree with X on the X.

Sorry, just wanted to say that.

I've tried going straight across on my 3" TM strop, but I find that it's a rare razor that doesn't have at least a tiny bit of curve to the blade, whether it's a smile or just a curved heel and toe. It's easier for me to get these blades stropped evenly using an X pattern.

Josh

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

I agree with X on the X.

Sorry, just wanted to say that.

So did my ex.

OK, next question: how hard should one pull on the strop whilst one is stropping away? Plus, how hard does one push the blade down onto the strop? I realize these things are difficult to quantify, but does one pull hard enough to attempt for minimum deflection of the strop and does one just glide the blade over the leather with minimal down pressure, or with a bit of down pressure, or with a bit more than a bit of down pressure?

I really like the traction one can get from the D rings on Tony's strops. Being an old oarsman, the tug potential reminds me of a starting stroke in the old eight, or maybe it's completely unnecessary to pull with that amount of vigor (being an old oarsman, that amount of vigor is largely imaginary anyway).

still at sea, Bruce

Bruce,

Boy, did you ever open a can of worms.

The pressure/no pressure thing is somewhat controversial. There are those who do well with no pressure and others who use pressure to good effect.

Lately I've found that some pressure is necessary if I want to use my razor more than three days without rehoning it. It's hard to quantify, but I pull pretty hard on the strop and press the razor down hard enough to deflect the strop 1/2" or so. This is using a fairly flimsy Jemico strop. On my Tony Miller strops I don't get as much deflection because they're stiffer.

It's important to finish with light pressure, even if you start out using some firm pressure. The last few light strokes finish the edge nicely.

The old barber manuals seem to indicate that you should use at least some pressure--enough to feel drag on the razor.

Last night I stropped with light pressure only, and today I can definitely feel the difference. I have some slight irritation, and the edge wasn't as comfy as it should be.

Josh