Thread: Lifting The Spine????

After watching the Maestro Livi stropping vid in a recent post I am now a bit confused. He is CLEARLY lifting the spine quite a bit off the strop before he turns the blade. I know, I know.... he's the Maestro and he's the expert, but this practice is usually expressed as totally forbidden on SRP. Is this just an advanced stropping technique, or do the rules change with a loom strop?

Complicated question. I'll try to keep my opinion simple. He is honing, not stropping. The paste colorization gives that away.

Next, if your honing on a solid flat hone, then stropping should be flat to maintain the angle. Raising the spine changes the geometry and dulls the edge. You want the stropping to be coincident to the honing, always.

But, if your honing with a curved geometry (such as stropping on a loom strop with a honing paste) the rules change a bit. He is creating a curved geometry bevel and would likely strop in a similar fashion later. The angle must remain coincident, but in this case, curved.

What you DON'T want to do is lift the back while the edge is still in contact with the strop. If you lift the back after lifting the edge, that is OK. Make sense?


Scott

What they said plus consistency is key. Kinda' like free-hand holding the angle while sharpening a knife. i.e.: holding the same repeatable angle is more important to a sharp edge than the precise angle used. If that makes any sense...

I suspect that Livi can freehand a razor pretty well anyway.

I also think it can be deceiving how much pressure he is really using in the video. It looks like he's using a lot of pressure, but he probably isn't. I remember watching honing videos and it looked like they were using a fair amount of pressure, but they obviously weren't.

So my guess is that he is lifting the spine, but doing so very gently and consistently.

Thanks guys, but I think my spine lifting days are far, far away
BTW - how about that dry test shavein the video?! Not for me, thanks.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

Thanks guys, but I think my spine lifting days are far, far away
BTW - how about that dry test shavein the video?! Not for me, thanks.

I like to strop on my forearm and test shave on my arm...but my face? I agree, not for me...

Yea, it was a nice validation though that the edge was sharp. I can do that as long as I apply water first. I find that dry tough whiskers get cut pretty easily, you just need some moisture on the face to prevent irritation.

Some days I find a soggy whisker can be really hard to shave, odd isn't it?