Thread: Stropping?

I've been stropping using the method Sham demonstrated very well for many years. A couple years ago someone had a poll up here, finger rolling or wrist flipping. I actually thought I was wrist flipping until I got home and studied how I stropped for a minute. A couple strokes on the strop and sure enough - no wrist flipping at all. Wrist-flipping is awkward and makes it difficult to get work quickly and surely with razor and strop. Once you get the hang of stropping and managing the razor as Sham demonstrated, it's easy to strop so quickly that the eye really can't follow what the hand is doing. And that method works just as well for honing, but edge first when honing.

Those who have done something for a long time may not even know exactly how they do something so well, as the body tends to just do what's efficient and it becomes natural. But to teach a method, you have to study exactly what it is you're doing first. In several different disciplines, I've come to realize this. You can be really good at something and give lousy advice to someone else about how to do it. That's why lots of good "doers" aren't top notch "teachers" (in my opinion).