My stropping

Ok, so I guess I will have to be different than all the rest. I still get horrible shaves from stropping with only the weight of the blade. I can now get killer quality shaves with smooth as glass feeling skin on a pretty consistent basis. The difference? How I strop. I am using pressure on the blade and running it along the strop until I feel a drawing sensation on the blade. I hold the strop in the opposing hand VERY taught and use what can only be described as dramatic amounts of pressure. I usually start out with light pressure and then work my way up until I get a good draw. I can feel the blade getting a draw as I keep working the blade on the strop. With a super sharp blade there is little pressure needed at all, but with my blades there is some pressure needed. If fact I can use LOTS of pressure with no damage to the edge. Whats important though is that my blades shave like a DREAM! I mean really, really smooth. DE smooth. I find the blade should be held at a 90 degree angle to the strop as well. Just seems to help a little. Perhaps this might be a method for those of us who are a little more honing challenged to still get incredible shaves. Imagine killer shaves for the honing challenged.

If nothing else I realize the importance of an exacting strop action and I wonder if this accounts for all the honemiester honed blades that get into guys hands and don't shave well.

Just thought I should share as the quality of my shaves now is incredible.

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Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I find the blade should be held at a 90 degree angle to the strop as well.

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You must mean 45º, yes?
I guess it's a matter of getting the strop to do its job. I think that's what the linen fis or too. Warms up the fins so they react to the leather more freely. You might not need to use as much pressure this way. It's interesting to hear you say this though. I might try a firmer hand myself, but the truth is I'm chicken. i was knocking the edges off my blades with pressure. Oh, well . . . You won't know till you try.

X

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.

Alan,
I'm with you on this. I always use pressure when stropping both regular and pasted. On a pated strop I start with pressure then taper off as I go finishing with just the weight of the razor.
On a regular strop I always use a bit pf pressure until I feel the draw. I do also pull it quite tightly. My 24" strop deflects about 1/2" with the pressue I use.
I do always use either the linen or a coarse leather surface first before the finish leather. I know you have told be you were not much on the linen. At least not the hard finish stuff I use.
Tony

I might try a firmer hand myself, but the truth is I'm chicken. i was knocking the edges off my blades with pressure. Oh, well . . . You won't know till you try.

X[/QUOTE]
Not with my SRP 39 you won't! (just kidding-well maybe not)

Actually that flies in the face of most of the advice we have all used. I would think that using pressure on the strop would damage the cutting edge of the blade. I find I use so little pressure when I strop that if there is too much draw on the strop the razor starts to come out of my hand.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I am using pressure on the blade and running it along the strop until I feel a drawing sensation on the blade.

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To be honest, I am still puzzled with the propper stroping technique... I used feather light to somewhat firmer strokes with various results. One of the barber manuals or razor catalogs suggests "use pressure until you feel firm drag on the razor". Well, I guess this desribes your experience. I think that as long you pull on that strop hard, there is no fear of damaging the edge. On the other hand, you can see Lynn stroping in more relaxed way, obviosly with no ill efects on the edge... I guess it's the metter of feel for the edge...

Well, off to try putting my razor under pressure...

Nenad

Yes, the barbers manual specifically addresses using pressure. Then again if your getting drag/draw from a light touch then there would be no reason to use pressure. Either way I'm glad I am getting such amazing results. Perhaps strop draw is proportional to honing technique or striation direction. And though the advice flies in face or our common knowledge, I thought I would share it anyway as I find it more effective and validated by an easy to miss sentance in one barbers manual, and yet the key to smooth shaves (I think).

I hope one of you tries it, especially towards the end of effective shaving with one of your blades, when your about to re-hone anyway. Perhaps you can bring the blade back to life and shaving sharp.

Lynn specifically says in his video he is not using pressure, but he is also allowing the strop to bow, which I think would work well. I hold the strop waaaaay tight and use pressure until I'm sure the edge is aligned (by feeling the draw) What I'm certain would not work is a bowed strop and using pressure.

AF I'm with you on this one. I use what I guess would be somewhat firm pressure when stropping, but I hold the strop quite taut. I don't pull so hard that the strop wants to curl, but quite neat that hard. As hard as I strop, I have a feeling that if I relax my left hand for a second, my edge will be obliterated. I have very good results. Another benefit of hard stropping is it's easier to keep the blade flat on the strop. With light pressure, the edge or spine is more apt to raise up off the strop during the stroke. Something else I believe is paramount ~ keeping the strop well conditioned. The dryer the strop gets, the more pressure I need to get drag, so I condition mine quite frequently. I use the Fromm conditioner, and normally for a few days I am wiping off a tad of waxy residue from my razors after stropping. They drag well though! I wish I could find a more oily type conditioner that wouldn't "wax" up on the surface of the strop. I want to try neatsfoot or something like that, but am nervous I might foul up my strops. Anyway, good post! Gave me a reason to think deeper on this. .................Jeff

Cool, its nice to see some come out of the woodwork once you start shaking the trees. Might be a few other heavy stroppers out there. I got some really nice strop dressing from Tony.

Part of the draw factor is what type of leather and what surface characteristics they have. I have several types I use and some like my #1 and #2 have an almost sticky surface that has good drag with little pressure. Others have a harder, slicker surface and take a little more pressure. I do tend to use the harer ones on the razors that keep the keenest edge and the stickier ones on razors tat don't hold up quite as well.

Tony

Quote:

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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.

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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.

Quote:

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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.