Thread: How am I nicking my strop?

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Are you stopping the motion at any point? That does it too.

Yeah, roll the edge off the strop before you reach the end of each stroke.

Originally Posted by netsurfr

I was wondering about this myself at one time. I was nicking my strop a bit. I found that when rolling the blade I actually needed to start the stropping motion and this prevents the blade from slipping forward. I guess this is another way of saying what AFDavis said.

Thanks, I suspect this could be it. I am going very slow with pretty much a hard stop and start. I will try rolling the blade and beginning my stroke before the edge touches the leather. I may also be having some trouble with keeping the strop level.

Thats it! This is why I only do two shows a night! The razor should be turned and the opposing stroke direction begun before the blade touches down. The blade can never, ever stop on the strop.

I never actually nicked my strops but in my earlier shaving days I was apparently doing too exaggerated an X motion and was dragging the shank along the strop so I was getting these scratches at the top and bottom of the strop. Once I realized that it stopped happening.

I would suggest that you are twisting the strop. Tension at the held end can make the edge of the strop nearest to you, twist up leading to the "flip" for the next stroke hitting this bit first. Make sure the strop stays edge parallel. Uneven pressure across the razor while stropping will tend to twist the strop so that the hook end dips away if too much toe and visaversa. Tension also has to be even through both edges of the strop also as this can lead to edge bias on the strop as well.

PuFF