Thread: dumb stropping question....

Dumb stropping question....

do i use canvas before or after the leather part?
When should the canvas part of a strop be used?
and how many passes should i use in total (leather/canvas)

Use the cloth side , before you use the leather . Most people , including myself do 20-25 strokes .
The only dumb question is the one that's not asked .

Thanks alot.

so is that 10 on the canvas and 10 on leather or 20 on each?

Originally Posted by BigIan

Thanks alot.

so is that 10 on the canvas and 10 on leather or 20 on each?

BigIan,

That's 20-25 strokes on the canvas and 20-25 on the leather. Total: 40-50.

When you really get good at it, you can even do 50 and 50.

You can try out various passes. I like to do 25 on the linen followed by 50 on the leather.

Depending on the blade and strop, you can use more or less but the 25/50 combo has served me well.

Good luck!

-Rob

Yes what the others said to start.
Increase or decrease the number of strokes
depending on what you like from your razor.

A light touch is important and the number of
strokes depends on you, the strop and the blade
so none of us can tell you what the count is other
than a place to start and what we do.

When the blade comes off the shelf in the morning
give it a short visit to the canvas prior to pre-shave
strop action.

For beginners note that stropping after honing
has one style and stropping a sharp blade prior to
shaving is another context. One is part of the
sharpening process and for some may involve pastes.
The important one is prior to shaving or maintenance
stropping which does not commonly need pastes (in my
opinion).

I usually do 20 on the linen , and 30 on the leather , except for after I hone . After honing I do 30 on the linen , and 60 on the leather .

I see a trend... I usually do 2x whatever I do on the fabric on the leather. i.e. 20/40, 25/50 or 30/60. I'm not sure why it's just seems right.

Experiment a bit and you'll find something that works for you. I suspect the other variables (razor, type of linen, type of fabric, time since last honing, etc.) will play a big role.

The other thing I do after stropping: carefully run the razor along my leg hairs to see if it pops any off. Assuming it does I'll do another 10 laps on the leather, a quick wipe then away we go...

I do 25 material and 50-60 leather before each shave, and then 10 material and 15-20 leather after each shave.

dumb question #2


Do i need to get some form of strop paste to "nourish" the leather when breaking in?
And how do i care for my strop? there forth some people seem to say just rub it with my hand others say paste. just not sure what to do.