Thread: Question about stropping

Originally Posted by STF

Hi Guy’s,

I have heard it said in some posts that "they” have stropped a razor 300 laps.

What would be the reason and benefit of doing that rather than 60?

My razor still shaves but not like it did compared to some of my others.

I don’t really want to send it for honing yet because I’ve only used it less than 20 times.

I’m a newbie and I’m not great with a strop yet but would really going at the strop for 300 or so laps help give me back my edge?

I suppose that if I don’t do anything good for my edge I could just send it off to be honed after all.

Steve

PS - I've just noticed that there is a thread about stropping that would have been more suitable for this post. My apologies but I don't know how I can move it.

Some guys just love to strop. Some guys use multiple strops. Multiple as in progression. I use EITHER my DIY buffalo or my DIY cowhide, 50 laps, no linen, pulled tight but not crazy tight, just enough razor pressure to keep good control and contact, flipping edge over spine, slight x movement. But that's me. There are an awful lot of ways to skin that cat. For a raw beginner, I suggest sticking with the group consensus and not experimenting too much. After you have a good handle on stropping, do it however works best for you. I have seen the videos of slack strop stropping, etc, and they horrify me, but for some, those who know how to optimize the method, apparently they work. This goes for big drawn out stropping progressions. It works, even works very well, for those who have mastered that method. Maybe better than the standard 40 to 60 laps on one strop, or whatever. Maybe not. But there can be no doubt that it does work.

Now you have been stropping with 60 on leather for 20 shaves and the edge is a bit off, and you want to know if a stropping marathon will bring it back? I doubt it, but if your stropping is good, with rock solid consistency, it won't hurt anything. It is certainly not unusual to notice some loss of sharpness after 20 shaves, especially if the edge started out very, very sharp.

The good news is a finisher alone would probably be enough to bring your edge back up. Why not give it a go yourself? A Naniwa 12k is good for that. Some 1 micron lapping film. A nice big translucent or black Arkansas, maybe. A Shapton. Just hone with very light pressure until you feel stiction, strop good, and shave. For just refreshing your edge, no big kit of rocks is needed, generally. Me, I like pasted balsa for a little extra edge polish, and if you use a very fine abrasive, like .1 micron (not ONE micron, POINT one micron) for a post finish finish, you can also use it regularly for keeping your razor quite sharp indeed, for a very very long time. Basically, until you get bored and just want to play with your rocks. Oh, and normally a razor on balsa is always stroked with the spine leading, for obvious reasons. Almost always.

If you are not ready to jump in with both feet, by all means, send it out for honing. Meanwhile keep trying to optimize your stropping and shaving. A very high shave angle is almost as hard on the razor as it is on your face. Multiple passes of course wear an edge quicker than single pass shaves with the occasional double pass. 20 shaves per honing isn't so bad but I am sure you can improve on that, with practice and thinkfulness.

"Some guys just love to strop. Some guys use multiple strops. Multiple as in progression."This all day long. I honestly don't know that a stropping progression does all that much to refine an edge over just linen and 1 good leather strop. But yeah, I just like to strop-in fact, I often do it while watching tv, though it can be a very zen thing if you actually focus in on it. And as long as I've got 'em, just working my way across my rack with 6 or 7 strops from linen to my finest Japanese shell just feels right, and my edges seem to agree. Plus it helps me justify my owning them!