Thread: First stropping attempt--HELP!!

man, you guys sure make it look easy. I tried my hardest to keep the strop tight and straight, and the razor flat w/light pressure. It sure is hard to keep from lifting the spine up and putting pressure on the blade. I just don't wanna get a rolled edge. I'm consentrating on the spine, but then it seems like the blade is not keeping enough contact with the strop unless i put more pressure on it.
I'm just taking it slow, but the razor kinda seems dulled. It doesn't seem to pop hairs off and needs to kinda scrape them off rather than just gliding and cutting them off. ATG is not as smooth clean as it should be. This is what I was afraid of.
The other side of my Filly has the paste on it, should I use that to try and touch it up, use the normal side more till the shave feels right, or what?
I'd hate to have to send my new Dovo back for re-honing already.

Some guy prefer video to text. Maybe it is a generational thing ? Anyway, this 1961 barber manual excerpt from the SRP Wiki here recommends learning to flip the razor before you ever make a stroke on the strop. Also holding the tang between the tips of the forefinger and thumb and do not bend the wrist. I had to re-learn stropping once I read it but my results improved from my wrist turning days. Give it a read and try out what the say.

As far as the current state of your razor.... was it popping hair off your forearm before you stropped ? If it is not shaving smoothly for you it may be a technique rather than a sharpness issue.... hard to say.

If you are dulling the blade on an unpasted strop you'll do worse on a pasted strop. Check out the barber manual and work on regular stropping and shave test again. My 2 bits.

Thanks. wow, the placement of the thumb really changes the pressure on the draw. Its still having some trouble though. see my other post : http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ave-ready.html

Ok so here is an update. I practiced my stropping i'm not so afraid of putting my blade to the leather. My problem is that I can't seem to keep the edge flat on the leather unless I put more pressure on the blade (the wiki and all the videos say to use no more pressure than the weight of the blade on the strop), but i'm afraid of dulling my edge. I try to only use my thumb on top (like in all the videos) and not move my wrist, just flipping the blade. It just looks like part of the edge is not touching (uneven) unless i put pressure. But i'm afraid that the pressure will end up on the edge and dull it.

You're right to be concerned. Stropping is important and not that easy. The razor is actually pretty heavy, compared to say, air. It should lay flat on the strop without you doing anything significant to it.

Maybe you need to relax a bit and let the razor run up and down the strop on its own and just stay out of the way. You'll probably need to give it a little push to get started, but once it's in motion it'll probably just slide along on its own.

To me stropping feels simply like I'm swaying my arm forward and backward at the elbow.

Is your strop level with the ground? If not I'd get it there and then practice the motion without the razor. Put your forearm at a 90 degree angle, level with the floor, and "strop" by swinging your hand forward and back.

If you set it up like this then you'll know when you've screwed up. Anytime your hand drops below your elbow you've rolled the edge.

I have hit hanging up like in jocky's video where he has it on the door, but its lower and below my head level. So I should keep it flat huh?
I'll give it another couple shaves, but I hate using my only razor to test. I just can't afford to buy another one. I've tried the butter knife trick, but its really not the same. I would have tried a few shaves with it without stropping, but I've heard thats not recommended and will dull it a lot faster.

+1 on all of AFDavis' advice.

I am still learning to strop, but at first I would attempt to over-correct all my mistakes. This lead to too much pressure, and rather than the edge listing off (no big deal), the spine was lifting off (which as you know is bad).

I would say just let it do its thing. Light pressure, focus on spine, gentle grip, and just go. When you have a bad stroke, where the edge lifts off a little, don't try to correct it. If anything, lighten up a bit more. All your hand should be doing is resting the blade on the strop. If the edge is lifting, you're trying to control it too much.

But just keep going. Half the battle is building up the muscle memory, and that takes a bit of time. If you keep changing every stroke, it's hard to do.

I also strop with the strop at about waist level, with the strop going across my body (ie, I make a stroke from left to right, not from front to back). I find it much easier to make consistent strokes with with configuration.

Give it a try!

Originally Posted by salazch

OkMy problem is that I can't seem to keep the edge flat on the leather unless I put more pressure on the blade (the wiki and all the videos say to use no more pressure than the weight of the blade on the strop), but i'm afraid of dulling my edge.

Great advice & description by AFDAvis. Let it happen & just guide the direction.

Not all strops are perfectly flat & not all razor edges are dead straight.
Possibly stropping in an X -pattern may also help.

wow. keeping the strop flat at waist level is so much better than hanging up and down. I can't do side 2 side, its just awkward. thanks for the feedback . its easier to distinguish between a light touch or heavier touch this way too. My blade may be recoverable!!

Salazch,

I found that it is not only how much presuure you apply to the razor on the strop, it is how tight you hold the razor between your thumb and finger.

I was recently having some real trouble with my stropping; I found that I had rotated my finger position about 1/8 inch on the tang, and was holding the tang too tightly - not hard, but too tightly to maintain the fluid motions needed when stropping. When I corrected these, things were back to normal.

Best of luck !

Have fun !

best regards

Russ