Thread: Your Strop Technique

I keep the spine on the strop at all times. If you lift at the end of the stroke, you may roll your edge and dull the razor. This can happen as you start to lift the razor off the strop while its still moving, so you end up with the edge in contact with the strop and the spine up in the air. This puts extra pressure on the edge and can roll it.

If you find you keep nicking the strop then practice with a butter knife to get the feel of it before you put razor to leather..! Also, try slowing the strokes down a bit when you strop. Hopefully this will help you avoid any more nicks..!

Good luck!

Thanks to everyone for the advice you have given me.

Here is where we stand. I have been practicing at a very slow stropping speed, making sure that the spine stays in contact at all times, I lift the edge and start the flip just BEFORE I end the stroke, flip, then start the opposite stroke just BEFORE letting the edge contact the strop again.

Results - no more nicks, but a lot longer to strop. I should mention also that my razors have never been sharper following the stropping. I will keep my stropping speed slow until the muscle memory sets, then slowly speed up. This is going to take a while.

I also used a pumice stone and 1200 grit sand paper to remove all of the nicks and my strop looks almost good as new. So I am able to tell for sure that I am not nicking it any longer.

Thanks again,

David

Congrats!

Its really great when it all starts to come together! Dont worry about the speed now, just focus on the accuracy first. Its the old guitar players mantra; Speed is a by-product of accuracy.

Just take it slow, concentrate on getting a good stroke and making contact with the razors edge the whole way across and the speed will come. It sounds like you are well on your way..!

Good luck!

EDIT: I use the same method to repair my strops and it works very well. I also found that giving the affected areas a good rub with your hand once you've removed the nicks really helps them to blend in with the rest of the strop. The oils from your skin treat the area and make the leather more supple.