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Hello,
I recall a few years ago that there was someone who strongly advocated for doing fewer, rather than more, laps when stropping. I can't recall his name but it was interesting to hear his side of the story. As I recall from his video, his point was that something like 8 or 10 stropping laps does the majority of the work, and more than that simply increases the risk of rolling the edge or at best is a waste of time.
Does anyone know whom I am thinking of?
thanks
No, but for most folks he was probably right.
Think about this, look at your razor’s bevel with magnification 60-100x. See all the scratches in random patterns? Where did they come from?
At one time the edge was perfectly straight and the bevel uniformly polished with the stria all running in the same direction.
The only thing that touched your bevel and edge is you face, beard, toweling and strop. Which do you think scratched your bevel and edge?
So, if your strop is dirty, inferior quality and your technique is lacking, how is more, better?
Unfortunately, the only way to improve your stropping, is to strop. Try to make each lap a perfect lap on a clean strop. 10-20 laps are probably more than enough for most to maintain an edge.
Find your sweet spot, as your stropping improves you will find you need less. A new stropper doing 100-200 laps is probably doing more harm than good.
Stropping is way underrated. Proper stropping can keep you shaving for a long, long time.
I recall the video. I also recall that he used a lot of pressure when stropping. He also did not strop between shave but elected to touch up his razor after 5 or 10 shaves. I think perhaps if that was your technique and you loved your shave and maintenance experience that’s fine for you. I strop much more and much more frequently and my edges go for many shaves. I often shave with the same razor for between one and three weeks, some razors get used for several periods before touching them up. To each there own.
To my memory I think that you may be referring to Howard Schlecter sp?Quote:
Originally Posted by 400E
The only time I do a lot of passes, is after the blade comes off the rocks.
60-80 lead pasted strop
60-80 Russian tanned ( med draw )
60-80 Roo or shell. ( fast draw )
Besides that...20-40, before and after a shave. ( desired strop ). Have yet to take a blade back too the rocks, but my rotation is fairly, large. Somewhere in the order of 200+ :shrug:
Although I don't agree with all of what Howard says he does have a point
The 25/50 recommendation for stropping is only a starting point most people adjust from there as they get better at stropping
Also the strop itself has some input here, if you are using a Med Heavy draw you might very well need less laps..
Another thing that I myself find I adjust for is the finisher I used, I tend to use way fewer linen laps when I finish on a Escher/ J-Nat / or Shapton 30k
The reverse is true for a Coticule or Zulu
I just go by the response I get back from my customers and adjust from there
Basically I guess what I just said is rather simply put as YMMV :p
Give that man a cigar!Quote:
Originally Posted by bluesman7
That's exactly who I was trying to remember -- Howard Schechter. Thanks! I would never have remembered his name.
Love the observation about the random scratch patterns -- i've seen these but never thought to put it all together.Quote:
Originally Posted by Euclid440
Sometimes it's good to go back to basics. I am going to do just as you say - aim for perfect laps (and fewer of them).
And going to clean my strops! Haven't thought to do that for a while.
I over strop. Well, 100 laps before no matter how many times I've shaved with that razor. But I'm trying to cut back. I think lately I've been doing 20 after and 60 before. It's hard to cut back when it only takes seconds to do it.
I do 15 laps on cotton and 40 on leather after a sjave and then 80 on leather before a shave.
I wish it only took seconds like Gasman says but if I go too fast I end up getting confused and either hearing that sound, I'm sure you remember the the oh oh that didn't sound good experience or cutting my strop. 80 laps takes me about 2 minutes I guess and I have to say, it makes my thumb hurt on the tang when I flip the razor and makes my wrist ache with the flipping. Sometimes i have to stop after 40 for a few seconds.
I reckon my technique needs improving, but my edges are good for a long time so I must be doing the actual stropping OK.
I do 25 linen and 50 leather after a shave and repeat before a shave. I strop slow, caressing the blade with the leather. After the shave stropping is to help dry the blade, before the shave is to try to remove any oxidation that has formed.
"Caressing the blade with the leather" -- poetic!
This subject has been discussed a zillion times here over the years. The general consensus for most folks 60 laps is the way to go. Of course like anything else some folks have their own technique which can go 180 degrees out from the norm and they get great results.
So, 60 is a good start point and if YOU get better results with more or less then that's your ticket.
The longer you take the more time your lather has to soften the whiskers.Quote:
Originally Posted by STF
I used to do endless stropping as in 75-100 on linen and double that on leather then after about a year I cut that in half and here we are many years later all I do is 15-20 on linen and 20-25 on leather and it seems to work for my needs.
Most stops I have are glassy and I’m a heavy handed stropper so I use what most would consider to much pressure and I have always done that as I was never in the camp of super light pressure but hey if what you currently do works then stick with it but don’t be afraid to try something different.
I find that a reasonable stropping before and after the shave keeps them going a good long while.
I strop about like Jnatcat above before the shave. About same after. Laps. Not strokes!
Something that I've been wondering for a while is how we know we've done enough laps.
So we have Howard Schechter saying 10 or fewer is plenty; most of us do more that than, and some do considerably more.
How do we come up with our stropping strategy? Is there some feedback you get during the stropping operation itself that tells you you're done? If so, I haven't noticed it.
The way to tell is always how the razor shaves. If your razor is right to start with, then strop and shave, how many laps will be how good you are. If you are really good at stropping you can improve an edge, may only take a few. The one thing that is certain is if your doing it right you can’t over strop.
Since I strop before and after the shave I can usually pick one up and shave much later if I want to.
Still, I usually strop before the shave.
When it starts to not shave well, for me the slightest tug, I add a few laps on linen 10-20, then 5-10 on leather.
If it does not improve, then look at the edge with magnification or lightly run a Q-tip on the edge. If I see large chips it needs to go back to the stones. If micro chipped, more linen, aggressive strops or pasted strops followed by linen and leather.
There is definitely a strop progression in both linen and leather, you just have to test to find what works for you.
If you are new to stropping, slow down and practice your flip and lighten downward pressure. The flip and pressure are frequent causes of damage to an edge, or strop is contaminated.