Thread: Stropping for dummies: Help

Hey all

I'm ready to dive in. I've got my Wonderedge that Lynn honed up for me. My Dovo strop just came in from Ray. It's GO time! Well, almost.

1- Mounting hardware: the strop has a metal loop on the end. I'm going to mount it just below the counter in my bathroom. What kind of mounting hardware would you recommend? Will a single nail do the trick? Seems like it'll roll right over the head.

2- Linen or leather first? Lynn's video looks like linen then leather upon second watch. I'd love to know the reasoning here as well.

3- Technique. Light pressure, spine first, keep the pressure even across the blade. How many strokes on each side of the strop?

For reference, here's a link to my strop: http://www.classicshaving.com/i/DOVO...193_45002a.jpg

I'd appreciate any filling in the blanks and other words of wisdom. The moment of truth is almost here!

Bill

I have mine tied to a doorknob with some rope.

I used a zip tie to make a loose loop around the doorknob, then clipped the swivel to the zip tie.

I typically do about 15 round trips on the linen, followed by 20-25 on the leather. Just take it nice and slow, spine first. You can also check under the "How To & Why" section at classicshaving.com for diagrams & such.

Words of wisdom... Lots of hot water; NO, and I mean NO distractions; Give yourself plenty of time (30 minutes minimum); It's OK to re-lather; Don't make pink soap; Stretch the skin from behind the cutting edge (slip & receive a nasty cut otherwise).

I prefer a really strong hook screw for mounting, I hold the strop tight. I like the strop at elbow level while standing. 5-10 passes on the linen if its a soft linen, just to clean the blade and straighten the edge. Its not really required though, but I do it to ensure its clean before the blade hits leather. I like to use leather 30 passes.

I find just a little pressure is needed on leather for the first 10 passes. Do not raise the spine, go slow and easy. Try it without any pressure first though.

I like to use hot water now and let the cream soak on the beard for about a minute after soaking the beard with water. Some like to put cream on and let it sit, maybe a few minutes, I apply a glycerin soap, washing the face oils away and then reapply letting it soak, then apply the cream (its expensive after all). So thats, shower, soak with hot water, soak in soap, more hot water, soak in cream.

Ahhhh, this is all stuff you know. Stretch the skin and work on your angles and blade position. Its mostly just practice.

Great advice all! The zip tie was brilliant! I've attached it to my towel rack and it's perfection itself.

When I ordered from QED the other week, there was a flyer in the box about some sort of stick based glycerin soap. AFDavis, would something like this help me get a smoother shave? I'm using Taylors creams right now and just got a classicshaving cake soap to try out. I do find that my shaves lack the smoothness I get upon occasion. The latest was a weekend away at my parents house where they have a water softener. It was one of the smoothest shaves I've ever had!

Bill

Funny that this came up tonight. Today at Wal Mart, I bought both zip ties and a radiator hose clamp to attach my strop to the door handle. Think I'll try the clamp first since i can loosen or tighten it at will.

Randy

I find the creams to be the best, and you want to soak the beard in something. I suggest you find something to soak the beard in besides an expensive cream but, many many people just use cream. I like to use a high quality glycerin soap and I have at times just left it in place. For me ultimately the cream has to be last; or the soap, any soap, leaves my face feeling dry. I never use aftershave.

Soft water is invaluable and soaking the beard helps, but I think the ultimate shaves just come from a sharp ass blade.

I wouldn't go off the deep end on creams, soaps, equipment etc. Getting one blade sharp and just learning how to shave should be your focus. Back when I was learning and truely having difficulty with everything I would do one entire pass without cream to get the most feedback possible.

I would say that light pressure while stropping is too much. I believe it was part of the reason I was knocking the edge off my razors. Rather, think of even contact along the blade and no pressure. A slight 'x' motion will allow the entire blade to be stropped to perfection. IMHO this is the optimal action to keep the blade working its best.

I have this metal thing that hangs over my bathroom door and it has 5 hooks on it for towels. I take the loop and hang it over one of these hooks and pull it down. It seems to work well. any others pull down on their strop (vertical), instead of out (horizontal).

Originally Posted by xman

I would say that light pressure while stropping is too much. I believe it was part of the reason I was knocking the edge off my razors. Rather, think of even contact along the blade and no pressure. A slight 'x' motion will allow the entire blade to be stropped to perfection. IMHO this is the optimal action to keep the blade working its best.

I would love to feel the same way, but I don't. I've never knocked the edge off a blade. I have had a lot of bad shaves from inadequate stropping though. I use pressure when stropping. I keep the strop handle taught and everything works fine. I'm comforted by the the comments in the barbers manual in the files which doesn't say anything about using light pressure, what it says is "use enough pressure until you feel drag", without the drag I think your not getting much effect from a strop. Ofcourse I'm sure if you pay attention you'll get some feel from a light touch, but I just don't. I get much, much better shaves this way. I also wasted about a year learning how to hone with "just the weight of the blade"...it took a lot of digging to finally find out people were actually using some pressure, just always talking about how they don't.

I look forward to the day when I can get great results with no pressure.

I wonder if a light touch requires more strokes on the strop?

I'll stick with the info in the barbers manual, its working great for me.

I will add that with poor technique you'll tear the edge off a blade even with "no" pressure.