Proper Stropping Technique

Hi folks, Whats the proper way to use the strop? Should I start out slow on the strop? Is speed really an issue? I have the Illinois 127 Strop.
As I tried to strop on the leather side of it, I have noticed I must be doing it wrong somehow. I see little nick marks on the top left of the strop under the gold horse head stamp. Gosh Im so afraid im gonna ruin my new strop and the keen edge of the razor. :cry: I have rolled it flat as can be with a glass bottle and it is hanging nice and neat. im thinking as I can come towards myself im not flipping that blade correctly. And its nicking the outer left edge of the strop. No its not huge nick marks tho just small marks is all. Thanks for any insight!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Techy

Hi folks, Whats the proper way to use the strop? Should I start out slow on the strop? Is speed really an issue? I have the Illinois 127 Strop.
As I tried to strop on the leather side of it, I have noticed I must be doing it wrong somehow. I see little nick marks on the top left of the strop under the gold horse head stamp. Gosh Im so afraid im gonna ruin my new strop and the keen edge of the razor. :cry: I have rolled it flat as can be with a glass bottle and it is hanging nice and neat. im thinking as I can come towards myself im not flipping that blade correctly. And its nicking the outer left edge of the strop. No its not huge nick marks tho just small marks is all. Thanks for any insight!

---

OK .... take deep breaths ..... one, two now, exhale!

Speed is NOT an issue on a strop. Keeping the blade flat *is* an issue. Go slow. Pay attention to keep the razor flat on the strop. Any nicks on the strop can be smoothed out with sand paper. No worries ..... we all do that!

Thanks Uthed! Whewww, now I can take them deep breaths lol. Ok I will take my time now and keep the blade as flat to the strop as I possibly can. Who on this group can sharpen my razor? And how much would it be? I wouldnt want to risk using a stone myself :oops: My razor is a entry level Jemico Blue Steel brand, that is new by a few weeks. Shaved pretty good at first now its not doing so well on the shave this morning. I do the thumb test and I can almost pull is across my thumb without any "bite". These things go that dull so quick after a few shaves?? Again thanks for any info.

Before sending your razor out for honing you might try 30 laps on the linen side followed by 30-40 laps on the plain leather strop. Then test shave. Since your razor was shaving ok at first you might be able to restore the edge with just the linen and leather.
The other major variable is your shaving prep. Make sure those whiskers have been saturated with water and your lather is fresh.

Let us know how it goes,

Techy,
If the Timor was used right out of the box it was probably not all than sharp to begin with. I own 2 and have sold a few with my kits and all needed some pasted strop work to really be shave worthy. Once truely sharp they will not dull in a weeks time. The leather/linen should keep one goinf a few weeks anyway.

Time to learn to hone or use a pasted strop to renew the edge. Best to learn both and be self sufficient.

Tony

Sorry, meant the Jemico. I understand these too are Dovo made and are fine razors. Still not usualy shave ready out of the box.
Tony

May I suggest purchasing a pasted paddle strop with at least two different grits of abrasive?

That may well do the trick for you right now. Tony Miller has some for sale as do a couple of other sources.

Hope this helps,

Yes you guys were 100% correct, I did 30 laps on the linen side and followed nice and slowly on the leather and hey hey, The razor is now keen again. Just did a nice smooth shave with it this morning. Randy and Tony thank you both for jumping right in to supply answers as well as the rest of you guys. I will look into Tonys pasted paddle strops. Soon as the cash flow gets back up I will contact Tony. Im sure he can offer me a decent paddle strop and offer me help along with it. I just picked up a Norton 4k/8k stone today. Now I will possibly look for a decent ebay special and try to practice at it. Maybe I can become the "HoneMeister" one day lol :lol:

Techy,
Glad to help. By the way, that "Honemeister" logo next to my name is simply because of the number of posts I have made :oops: In Randy's case it is well earned because of his real sharpenening skills. He helped me out when I was having trouble with honing and did a great job getting a razor truely keen for me.
My honing skills are still only average but I am a mean hand with a pasted strop!

Tony

Thanks for the kind words Tony but did you know that after we reach 200 posts that the title changes to "BLABBERMOUTH"? :)