Thread: How many strokes?

I've seen a few guys querying the number of strokes to do whilst they're stropping so what I wanted to ask is how many strokes do you do when you strop? Is there any reason why you do the number of strokes that you do?

I do 30 webbed fabric and 60 leather before each shave on my SRD 3" black latigo.

I'm a fairly aggressive stropper and the number of strokes I do has crept up since I started..! I started on 20/40, which became 25/50 and is now 30/60. I also quite enjoy stropping! Hehe!

After the shave, I do 15 webbed fabric and 25 leather on the same strop. This is just to make sure there's no microgunk on the edge of the razor and to ensure that the edge is totally dry before I put the razor away.

So how many strokes do you do? Do you strop before only or both before and after? Tell us what you do and why it works for you...!

I do 50 linen and 50 leather before each shave and 20 leather following the rinsing and drying of the blade after the shave. My stropping habits were developed from reading posts by mparker762, AFDavis11, and thebigspendur. I too like stropping.

Lately, thanks to reading further posts by AFDavis11, I've been stropping with a real focus on what I'm doing and the tactile feel of the blade on the strop. Not zoning out and being on auto pilot as I seem to have been for a considerable length of time. This new focus has improved my results noticeably.

30 / 30 typically.. After shaving, I'll normally hit the blade 15 ~ 20 on the leather.

Edit: I do the after stropping because it seems a lot of people do it but is there any real benefit to it?

20-30 on the fabric, 60 on leather before shave. 20 on leather after the shave. As Jimmy said its easy to zone out and then one can ruin an edge and/or damage the strop. I find that the faster you go the poorer the results, paying attention and controlling the speed is very important for my stropping.

Originally Posted by mbeem

I do the after stropping because it seems a lot of people do it but is there any real benefit to it?

I learnt to strop after the shave from JimmyHAD, and the reason he mentioned is that it cleans all the microgunk off the edge and makes sure the edge is totally dry.

Since I started doing it I've noticed my edges last a lot longer between honings, so there seems to be something to it..!

Originally Posted by Stubear

I learnt to strop after the shave from JimmyHAD, and the reason he mentioned is that it cleans all the microgunk off the edge and makes sure the edge is totally dry.

Since I started doing it I've noticed my edges last a lot longer between honings, so there seems to be something to it..!

Makes sense. Thanks for the info!

I've always done a total of 100. Period. Has always worked for me with excellent results so why change a winning horse. Also takes the guesswork out of stropping for me. As long as your stropping technique is perfect and you're not doing more damage by rolling your edge you should be fine.

Gentlemen:

My strokes come in two patterns: 25/75 and 50/100.

For most of my razors, I strop 25 strokes on linen and 75 on leather. For those with harder steel, such the the Wackers, I increase the number of strokes to 50 on linen and 100 on leather.

After the shave and cleanup, I strop 15 on canvas and 25 on leather.

I have tried various stroke number combination, but the 25/75 and 50/100 seems to work best for me. Or at least I think it does.

As with Jimmy, I, too, enjoy the whole stropping performance.

Oh, something else: I have two 2" and two 3" strops. The 4/8" and 5/8" razors go on the 2" strops and the 6/8" on the 3". Why you ask? I have no idea. I like to use all four strops so that none is left out and has hurt feelings.

Regards,
Obie

Stubear,

25 on linen, 50 on latigo (Neil Miller paddle), 25 on tallow tanned leather (Neil Miller paddle).

25 between each pass (SRD paddle), 25 at the end of shaving (on latigo).

I would rather err on the side of too much than too little stropping

Have fun & a good weekend

Best regards

Russ

I normally use my 3" SRD english bridle/Webbed fabric strop.
30 on the fabric, 50 on the leather before the shave, 20/40 after.

With my SRD paddle thingy, I use 30 felt and then 30 on english bridle and 20 on the premium 1 leather.
After the shave I go 20/40 on felt/english bridle.