Thread: Linen or Leather?

I can't find a thread on this question and was wanting to gather all the conventional wisdom. Is a linen/canvass strop helpful before using the leather when stropping or is the leather sufficient?

Richard

“Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any” – Mark Twain

There is something of a debate on this subject. I think most would tell you leather is sufficient. However, some would also add that linen/canvas helps even more.

Jordan

Here is the latest of that debate

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...hers-grit.html

Yeah , but that debate got side tracked into discussions of stropping whilst "commando" to impress the ladies.



Bottom line: you don't need anything other than a nice leather strop. Really.

But most guys like to screw around with trying out all sorts of stuff to get themselves all confused, so linen/canvas is a cool option for that too!

I have a smooth canvas strop, I'm not sure of the efficacy of it, but I do like to use it, as it makes a fantastically cool "ZzzzzzzzzzzzZZZIIIIIIIIIIIP!.....zzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZ ZZZZiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIPPPP!" sound as you strop it, like a pair of courdiroys on steroids. That's how I roll...

The Popular mechanics article pretty much confirms what many have said all along. The leather still basically realigns the burr/wavy edge and the linen is thought to be mildly abrasive. Most find the natural, less processed fibers (linen/hemp) have a bit more abrasive quality than highly processed fibers (cotton).

I rarely use cloth myself, linen or cotton but most have sid they get better results or faster results when using it. Sme who have tried my line felt it more abrasive than cotton, a few have said no difference.

(BTW, the mill just quoted me another, at least 6 week delay on genuine linen in the 3" width)


Tony

I regularly touch cloth

PuFF

I use a Tony Miller Latigo strop with linen and in my daily routine, I always strop first on the linen 60 to 80 strokes and on the leather 25 to 50 strokes - I like the sound of the razor on the linen like Seraphim and the feeling of the blade against the leather (don't make much noise but stick on it)... I think I am addicted.

But to answer the question, I feel - but I can be wrong, only a newbie I am - that the linen keep my edge in a better cutting shape than if I only strop on the leather; it seems that the edge stay longer sharp before needing to go to the stone or pasted strop for a touch up... maybe I am wrong and only found a reason to strop more...

There was a linen thread over on SMF a while ago, the proponents for the linen suggested to think of it as your finest hone which you would drop back to first to refresh an edge. There were some indications that vintage linens *may* have better performance than the new stuff we see today. Illinois has a rather plastic feeling linen, one of the cotton canvas versions from Tony was a bit too bumpy for my tastes but I love the genuine linen he has as an option. Then again, I think he may have a different Cotton canvas now than the one I got but I'm not sure... Tony, fill us in if you read this.

The Dovo strops apparently have something quite nice in the way of linen but I don't own one of those so I can't give my personal opinion.

For me personally at this stage of my experimentation, I've found the linens to be of little help to my edges and much prefer the rough Illinois 827 strop as my "linen" and then finish on a smooth latigo from Tony. I find my edges really perk up after 50 laps on the 827 and the latigo gives it the final polish but I can get a great shave straight off the 827 if I'm in a rush or my arm is getting tired of stropping!

Regards

Christian

I always do about 20 laps on linen and 30 on leather before each shave. When I first read about the linen supposedly not offering anything extra, I decided to omit it for a while.
About one month later, I struck me that my razors needed more frequent touch-ups. I speculated that the linen does sort of a very gentle touch-up with each time you use it, and I reinstated my previous use of it.

It should be doable to hone up two identical razors, strop one on leather only and the other on linen and leather, before shaving half a face with one and the other half with the other. Keep doing that for a few weeks till a difference in performance shows up (or doesn't show up) Such an experiment would offer a more objective view on the posed question.

I'm too busy comparing differently honed, but otherwise identical, razors to get into that right now. http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...-pictures.html
Maybe later.

Best regards,
Bart.

The leather should be sufficient. Of the two, the leather is finer than the linen/canvas meaning that if the razor is dull, use the linen side first and then the leather. It's all about progression. I call the art "progressive honing" because you progress from coarser to finer in search of . . . the perfect edge.