Thread: My stropping

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

45 degrees, mmmm, no I don't think so. I think I mean 90. Let me describe. I lay the blade flat (ofcourse) on the strop and place it perfectly perpendicular to the strop. I found when I was stropping that occasionally one side would start drawing and the other wouldn't. Then I noticed that on the return stroke the blade was getting tilted off from perpendicular so my stropping action would be pushing the edge sideways instead of outward. So I'm using an X pattern and moving the blade perpendicular along the length of the strop without tilting it. I've heard some guys have luck tilting the blade instead of using the x pattern but thats not working AS WELL for me. Imagine the stroke of the blade going STRAIGHT down the strop with the edge perfectly perpendicular to the length of the strop.

I think you mean parallel, parallel is in the same plane or at 0 degrees (plus or minus) perpendicular means that you are at 90 degrees. To be at 90 degrees the blade must have the sharp end on the strop, then stand on edge with the spine in the air. If you were to pull the razor any direction other than the length of the strop, you would cut the strop in two pieces. This would do nothing but dull your razor and do damage to the strop. If I am correct and you are stropping parellel, then you are doing thing correctly.

Yea, I'm not describing the orientation of the blade. It must be flat on the strop, completely flat, perfectly flat. I run the blade down the strop, spine leading just like every one else. But I noticed sometimes one edge wouldn't draw and one edge would. Upon closer observation I wasn't holding the edge perpendicular to the strop I was angling it a little in the direction which was failing to draw. If the strop were the 12:00 and 6:00 orientation of a clock the blade would be pointed at 3:00 and 9:00 oclock, this is the tip and the heal I'm referring to (and the edge pointing at 1200 and 6:00 precisely as I stropped). What I discovered was that if the blade is held so it runs down the strop at any angle, and not perpendicular, say pointed at 2:30 and 8:30 it would not drag properly. I consider the strop running North/South and the blade running East/West (tip and heal pointing East/West) then the blade is at 90 degrees to the strop. Well thats the way I think of it. I'm not referring to the orientation of the blade, it must be flat. I'm referring to the angle of the edge as it moves down the strop in relation to the length of the strop. In the picture below the ------- represents the strop and the ! represent the blade running down the strop correctly, at the end the slashes are off angled to the strop, the edge is now being stropped incorrectly and will fail to draw as well as at a 90 degree angle (the exclamation points). The slashes represent sloppy stropping. But this is minor compared to the importance of correct pressure, some people actually strop at a 45 degree angle (represented by the /) with good results. They do this to get all the blade edge on the strop at once.

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Tony,

Ahhhh that makes good sense, my strop is very hard and slick.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Yea, I'm not describing the orientation of the blade. It must be flat on the strop, completely flat, perfectly flat. I run the blade down the strop, spine leading just like every one else. But I noticed sometimes one edge wouldn't draw and one edge would. Upon closer observation I wasn't holding the edge perpendicular to the strop I was angling it a little in the direction which was failing to draw. If the strop were the 12:00 and 6:00 orientation of a clock the blade would be pointed at 3:00 and 9:00 oclock, this is the tip and the heal I'm referring to (and the edge pointing at 1200 and 6:00 precisely as I stropped). What I discovered was that if the blade is held so it runs down the strop at any angle, and not perpendicular, say pointed at 2:30 and 8:30 it would not drag properly. I consider the strop running North/South and the blade running East/West (tip and heal pointing East/West) then the blade is at 90 degrees to the strop. Well thats the way I think of it. I'm not referring to the orientation of the blade, it must be flat. I'm referring to the angle of the edge as it moves down the strop in relation to the length of the strop. In the picture below the ------- represents the strop and the ! represent the blade running down the strop correctly, at the end the slashes are off angled to the strop, the edge is now being stropped incorrectly and will fail to draw as well as at a 90 degree angle (the exclamation points). The slashes represent sloppy stropping. But this is minor compared to the importance of correct pressure, some people actually strop at a 45 degree angle (represented by the /) with good results. They do this to get all the blade edge on the strop at once.

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Got it! I miss understood the 90deg. Actually I have the same struggles as you are describing.

I'm using paddle strops almost exclusively, so I don't worry much about pressure. I think the major concern with pressure has to be bowing of the strop and resulting rounding of the edge. The only other problem I can see is that the pressure is so great that it causes the edge to rise of the surface of the strop. That's a lot of pressure, so there's really a large range that will work with a paddle strop.

As for the drag, I don't find that as a good measure of pressure. When I come off of my pasted strops anything above the slightest pressure produces a draw immediately.

As for the x-pattern (or tilting) on a plain strop, I don't think it makes a difference. The barbers manual prescribes it for a hone, and there's a good reason. With pasted strops, I don't know. If you use the x-pattern or heel leading approach on a pasted strop, the scratch pattern doesn't match a hone's but crosses it. To match the hone you would need to do an x-pattern that goes from tip to heel or move along the strop with tip leading.