Thread: Stropping after Honing

I go to linen the leather it depends on how I feel as to which strops I use but lately I have been doing nylon then linen followed by Latigo the Roo I have no idea if I am getting better results or not but I am happy doing it that way.

Both are SRD strops

2 strops and do the same with both post shave...
75-80 on felt and approximetly the same on either thick piece of cowhide or Gabes Roo Strop.
About 25% of my razors i have found get a slightly better edge with the cowhide while the others like the Gabe-Roo...

after hone
i use progressive diamond pasted balsa strops
then sanded leather side of paddle strop
then naked leather
i don't count laps, i kind of just know when its done

I also strop in between stone/hone progressions

I use the complete Kanayama tri-strop - canvas, suede and cordovan - for everything: post hone, pre and after shave (20/40/60).

I like the ideas:

- stropping between stones while honing (thanks Euclid440)
- several progressively faster draw leather strops (thanks outback)
- stropping on lead-treated leather (thanks again outback and Sharptonn)

Will try all these for sure but what form of lead is applied to the leather please and how do you get it to stick?

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

yea, I think in the past we have had many discussions about stropping after honing. Some think it unnecessary or even dulling to the edge.

I've always done it. It improves the edge giving it that final silky smooth finish.

I don't think it unnecessary, I think that with some stones I just can get away without doing so. I imagine some people made this a rule.

I agree that stropping is on its own a major component and needs learning like everything else. This takes time.

If you are going to strop before the second shave, why not strop before the first shave?

Just because I can. Well, kinda. It's more like, when I can. One thing that I do from time to time is to see how would a stone perform on its own. I might do it from a lower level or just kill the edge and start from there. Even if not so often, I did find that some stones would let me skip stropping altogether. And I imagine if someone has only this experience, would consider stropping unnecessary and not understand why the heck I have several strops.

I see all this like a (love or hate) triangle between sharpening/honing - stropping - shaving technique (for me this includes prep work as well). Sometimes poor honing can be saved by good stropping (even if by pure chance). But that's about it. I think bad stropping can undo even the best honing. And no matter how good they are, poor shaving technique will make the first two pretty much irrelevant. But since shaving seems so straightforward, takes some time to understand that it also needs learning to do it right.

Seems like a eternity since I used a straight. Maybe when I'm settled in this new house I'll find time for a straight shave but from past experience I've always noticed the radical change in an edge from stropping.
After honing an edge that's not quite there it improves massively after 3 or 4 strokes of palm stropping. I don't know what it is but maybe pressure is a factor. I use a fair bit on the palm after a stone. I've often wondered if the guys that do very few strokes strop harder than the guys that do hundreds of reps. I always found a max of 50-60 on leather works if less doesn't & if 60 doesn't it needs a stone. Towards end game of honing white dovo paste on linen can save a slightly wiry edge if you've gone too far and between that & going back to the finisher can save stepping back in grit.

Granted I'm a super newb...but I always thought of linen stropping (plain linen) as a post-shaving activity. Basically to dry out the razor and POSSIBLY heat it up a bit with friction. I do avoid pasted strop after hearing from a few people how a lifetime of pasted stropping (esp. done imperfectly) leads to the kind of funky shapes you see on super old razors sometimes.

I do avoid pasted strop after hearing from a few people how a lifetime of pasted stropping (esp. done imperfectly) leads to the kind of funky shapes you see on super old razors sometimes.

Pretty sure that is an old myth.

Years ago, a few of us stropped and shaved with one razor daily on Chrome Oxide for a year. After a week or so the edge was almost stria free and took on a fine plateau of smoothness. After a year nothing more happened, and the razor was non the worst for wear, no visible wear.

All those weird shaped razors were probably shaped by aggressive Barber Hones, now those will wear away a razor, and heavy-handed honing. Last week I corrected 4 razors that came from an estate sale, all of them were at least 3/16 wider at the heel than the toe, all of them Henckels.