Thread: Stropping after Honing

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?

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