Thread: Stropping Speed

As long as we're tossing about theories on the value of speed as called for in the barber's manuals, I'll offer my theory...they stropped fast because it better served the customer. As you read through those old manuals, there is an ever present theme of serving their customer (what a concept, eh?...talk about 'a lost art'). The service was the shave. The stropping was just the supporting maintenance so getting it done with speed and visible flair and confidence would best serve the guy who was waiting on his shave.

Just one man's opinion.

- Dale

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Well rather then jawing about this why doesn't someone do an experiment. This is easy. You just need one razor. A week of stropping say on plain leather really slow at say one stroke every 5 secconds, then another week every second then a week at two strokes a second and then throw in the linen another week for good measure. If you had one of those infrared heat detectors you could even measure the surface of the edge to see what was going on.

Do I detect a note of cynicism well I found the comments funny anyway
F***K experiments, just do what works for you This is all about the fun with learning the skill. No fun in having all the knowledge handed to you on a plate

PuFF

Originally Posted by Spokeshave

As long as we're tossing about theories on the value of speed as called for in the barber's manuals, I'll offer my theory...they stropped fast because it better served the customer. As you read through those old manuals, there is an ever present theme of serving their customer (what a concept, eh?...talk about 'a lost art'). The service was the shave. The stropping was just the supporting maintenance so getting it done with speed and visible flair and confidence would best serve the guy who was waiting on his shave.

Just one man's opinion.

- Dale

True. But the shave itself would also have had to have been smooth and relatively painless for the customer too, so I'm still gunning for the speed/better shave theory.

Originally Posted by PuFFaH

Do I detect a note of cynicism well I found the comments funny anyway
F***K experiments, just do what works for you This is all about the fun with learning the skill. No fun in having all the knowledge handed to you on a plate

PuFF

You're right - I'm sure people, after a while, end up stropping in the most effective way for them - everyone's doing their own personal experiments every day. But I'm genuinely curious about what's going on. If a certain speed is required there's no harm in letting people know. They still have to find their own ways of getting there.

James.

Point taken Jimbo.

PuFF

I take your point too PuFF. It's all pretty academic in the end, as everyone will eventually end up stropping at some level of speed anyway. Let's just say I'm indulging my own curiousity

James.

Well I suppose we'll start a whole new thread on this soon but todays shave sucked. I recall using a slow stropping speed in the past but using a paddle not a hanging strop. I took a freshly honed razor and stropped with a feather light touch 30 strokes really, really slow. That was a miserable failure. I returned to the strop using a little pressure so I could feel the edge stropping and did an additional 20 and got an ok/mediocre shave this morning. The cutting ability was there but the smoothness lacked. I have a habit of stropping on my hand during passes so I have to remember not to do that since that smoothes the shave out a little. I'll give is a 4 out of 10. I returned home to reshave after work. Freshly honed and stropped slowly produced a worse shave than yesterday. I may give the razor a few shaves to smooth out. I even had to check to make sure wasn't overhoned. Yuck. But once I applied a little pressure I could feel the edge drawing and that was comforting.

For those interested in the collary thread I'll call it "Stropping Speed Experiment"

I've been investigating stropping from a different aspect. I went to get strop leather from a shop that's been making hand made saddles a very long time. The saddle maker asked if I wanted 'hard or soft' because that's the way he had them sorted for sale. Large boxes of each.

I picked out some 'hard' finish because it more resembled typical strop leather. Then, I went over to the 'soft' and got some of it. Purchased by the pound, 2 bucks worth is going to be enough to make several paddles.

Anyway, the difference in draw between the various finishes is extreme. Softer finishes produce major draw with very little downward pressure. The harder finishes produce almost no draw. Neatsfoot oil or strop dressing will be required for them.

Anyway, for my two bucks, the draw or amount of friction between leather and blade is a significant factor in aligning the blade and also generating heat, perhaps as much as speed. More will be revealed when I find the microscope I'm shopping for.

FWIW, Weldon (my first barber) used to slap hell out of a hanging strop attached to the side of the chair after every haircut. That's because even a kid's cut came with mug and brush lather and straight razor neck shave. He would also hit the linen once in a while.

And yes, it was entertaining.

Regards

Another thing for your consideration is the strop length. I thought about this whilst using my short strop. A longer stroke would put more heat into the blade (assuming it is the heat that makes the difference).