What is your Routine
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What is your Routine
I’m a compulsive over stropper.
Typically it’s 100 linen, 200 leather, depending on my mood and the blade I may strop for 50 on leather treated with the argument creating, should never be specifically mention soft metal compound, before the linen and clean leather.
Horsehide is my current favourite leather. Scruppleworks linen is my favoured fabric compound, followed by hemp.
I strop as soon as I've finished on my last hone and after every shave.
50 linen / 50 leather...
I think what also has an impact is slack ..
I strop on the palm of my hand after the final finishing stone - a habit I got into after watching a Mastro Livi video. If I’m wearing denim, I do a few laps on my thigh. Then at least 50 laps on a high draw strop and another 50 on a light draw strop.
10-20 passes on linen before I shave and another 50 on a Light draw strop. When it starts to tug, I go to a balsa paddle impregnated with CrOx and redo the strop progression.
None of the choices really fit what I do post honing so I picked #4. I strop on plain linen first, the a pasted strop followed by plain leather.
The reasoning, rightly or wrongly, is to first align the edge, then polish/smooth the bevel/edge and lastly burnish the bevel/edge.
Bob
It depends. If razor has sat unused for a while I strop before and after shave. Otherwise only after shave.
After a fresh honing, mine go to a linen strop pasted with lead....yes lead, I'll say it, Rez.
I'll do somewhere around 100 passes on that strop, then move to a Russian tanned for another 100. From this point I'll progress thru 2 or 3 strops ranging from heavy to light draw, finishing on a shell or Roo strop, at 50-60 passes each. Then its just 40-60 on leather, before and after a shave
So you say you do a wee bit of stropping, Mike? :rofl2:
After Hone
50 on a Kanayama fire hose
40 on linen or suede
100 on leather
After shaving
50 on linen or suede
200 to 300 on leather depending on the strop
After shaving but the edge not meeting expectations
50 on Kanayama fire hose
40 on linen or suede
200 to 300 on leather
If edge is still lacking then 30 on CrOx followed by
40 on Kanayama fire hose
40 on linen or suede
200 or 300 on leather
Right after my last stone I do 20 super light laps on a paddle stop using .5 CrOx and then 10 laps with .25 diamond and then 50 on plain linen and 50 on leather.
My days of doing hundreds of laps are long gone, I figure if the edge is not there after 50 or so laps on linen and leather it was never there to begin with but that’s just me
I usually just strop for about a minute or two on regular leather after honing (again before shaving). I do use the Kanayama Suede ( usually just a few strokes) before leather after my shaves though
After honing I go lightly on the linen for 20-30 laps. Then progress thru 3 types of leather at 80 to 100 each.
Before a shave its 12-15 on linen and 80-100 leather. After a shave, its 12-15 linen and 30-50 leather just to clean and dry things up a bit.
I vary it depending on what I have done or what razor it is.
Post hone: usually cotton for 20 then heavy draw suede side leather for 20 then light draw coat side leather for 50
Pre shave w/ honed razor: 20 suede side, 40 smooth side then go to linen 20 then cotton 20, then suede 20, smooth 40 if it tugs or isn't smooth.
Post shave: heavy draw suede 20
...or something resembling those normally. Possibly pasted sail cloth to refresh if it seems like linen, cotton and/or leather won't do it.
My usual post honing routine is 20 Kanoyama canvas, 35 Kanoyama suede, followed by 65 Kanoyama cordovan, using a 3-piece Kanoyama strop of course.
I use jnats almost exclusively, and always felt that flax linen sets a fresh jnat edge back a little, linen is abrasive. The canvas seems to smooth the edge feel a little, some jnats can impart a very keen edge. I do like flax linen instead of canvas after honing with a coticule.
After shaving, the routine is usually 35 suede/65 cordovan. If I’m doing an edge longevity test, flax linen every 5-7 shaves will help after 35 shaves or so.
After honing synthetic finisher 30 laps on CrOX pasted basle, five linen, 40 English Bridle leather. Natural finisher 5 linen, 40 English Bridle leather
Before a shave 5 on linen and 30 on Roo leather.
After a shave, its 20 linen and 40 leather just to clean and dry things up a bit.
Touch up synthetic finisher 30 laps on CrOX pasted basle, five linen, 40 English Bridle leather. Natural finisher laps on stone 5 linen, 40 English Bridle leather
How can you have a poll with just 4 choices? There are so many variables to how people strop their razor after honing. No definitive data here.....
I mainly strop by how the razor sounds on my strops. Of course, the grind of the razor changes the pitch, but generally it goes from scratchy to smooth.
Generally, any stone other than a coti, a razor goes through 75 linen then 100 leather on my 30k kanayama. Coti's can be upto double that number for a coarser one.
Regardless of finish, post shave is 20/20 linen and leather then 75/100 again preshave.
Yup, depend on the steel Leather always, sometimes vintage flax linen then leather.
Does it make a difference? Prove it to yourself.
Do a treetop hair test off the stone, (spine on the skin, edge ¼ inch off the skin), strop just 10 laps on clean leather and do another tree top test.
Any difference?
I strop after each stone on firehose except the final hone. My firehose is aggressive. My linens are vintage, well washed rolled, soft and supple.
Stropping is way under rated.
Man! Some of you guys strop a LOT more laps than I do. I don't ever seem to have trouble with my shaves. I wonder if it's a difference in expectation.:shrug:
So, a year from now you will shave and wonder how you shave with an edge you produced today.
It is just experience, it takes a good year to learn to strop to the point where you are improving an edge. Longer to realize the difference, and longer to perfect it. Add learning to hone and to shave to the mix…
If you strop daily that’s only 365 time in a year, it takes a least 1000, perfect repetitions for good technique to become a habit. So, 3 years to just get a consistently good edge? Maybe.
Each day it gets better. Keep swinging.
Simple. I do the same honing or not.....
I used to do hundreds of laps and counted them until I started dozing off zzzzz
For the last couple years now all I do is:
About 15 seconds on linen (about 20-30 laps)
And about 15 seconds on Cordovan (about 20-30 laps)
Stropping really brings out an edge and improves it but I no longer need, or want, to do hundreds of laps on a progression of strops, pastes, etc. to get the desired effect.
Thanks Marty You know I always appreciate your input and I'm not trying to be contrary about this. It's not like I don't know how to strop. I strop before and after every shave and after honing. And I've been doing it for a pretty good long time. Of course I know that that doing it for a long time doesn't mean that it's being done right but if the razor starts to tug I'll go to the linen you sent me or possibly the pasted sail cloth and I can see the difference that it makes, I just don't do anywhere near the amount of laps that some people are talking about. Maybe I'm missing something here but after about 50 to 60 laps it seems like the point of diminishing returns to me. Then again maybe I'm just ignorant or something:roflmao
I'm with you. I've found 60 trips on the strop is the sweet spot. Of course there are exceptions however for a razor in proper condition and proper sharp that's all I've ever needed.
I will also agree, stropping is a deceptively more difficult thing than what it seems and it does take much practice to perfect it.
Typically I strop 100 laps on Neil Miller's Genuine Linen then 100 laps on Neil's English Bridle then another 50 or so on either my Roo or SRD #1.
I don't strop after shaving. I use a drop of Dawn liquid dish soap and wash the blade then rinse in hot tap water, towel dry and hang from the shower curtain rod till the next day then I put it away.
Before shaving I do about 30 laps on either the genuine linen or another cloth then around 50 on the leather of choice.
After honing, I usually go 10 on CroOx balsa and 50 on leaded leather. A progression of heavy bridle to tallow-tanned.
Heavy to slick. Stropping after honing is mucho-importante!
I give them a good stropping after shaving, of course!
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.
Indeed, guys do what they want.
Shaving off the hones may result in a rough one.
Spare the strop. spoil the edge.
JMO
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?
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.