Thread: Hypothetical secondary effect of stropping

Gentlemen, for your consideration:

A hypothetical secondary effect of stropping.

The conventional wisdom regarding stropping is that it aligns and straightens microserrations along the razor’s edge.

It has been observed that with several cycles of shaving and stropping, the edge improves after honing before reaching a point where the keenness of the edge declines thus requiring honing or pasting.

Since plain stropping does not seem to be removing metal only moving it, the question is raised regarding work hardening of the metal.

Work hardening is a well known and readily observable phenomenon. When metal is manipulated, that is bent or hammered, it becomes harder. This can easily be demonstrated by bending a paper clip back and forth. The clip quickly loses its ductility (if ductility is the word I want) until brittleness overtakes it and it snaps.

Or, one could repeatedly strike a copper penny and observe that more deformation occurs with the initial blows and that further shaping becomes difficult as the copper becomes harder.

So:

Does stropping harden the edge of the razor? Does this explain the bell curve of shaving comfort? Does the edge become harder to the point that it starts becomes too brittle thus requiring honing to expose fresh steel?

Does a slack strop strop bend the edge more causing a greater hardening?

I’ll leave it to better minds to ponder. I’m just an idea man.

Happy trails,
LG Roy

interesting idea. Sounds like it could have a point....unfortunately I'm not much of a metal man....so I can't really say if it's true.

Now that's a perfect example of thinking outside the box. Good brain, LG.
I've got no answer either, but I sure will ponder this one and await the metalurgists to weigh in.

X

The scyte is also hammered between honings. that makes sence...

My take on it, for what it's worth:

Work hardening requires overstressing a metal. Low carbon steel and stainless steel are two that can work harden rapidly when deformed beyond their normal stress tolerances. Stropping can't possibly provide enough heat and stress to cause work hardeining.

Instead, consider this. Stropping DOES remove and shape th metal. It does it at a slower rate than hone, by far, but leather will definitly polish metal and polishing is caused by removing metal at a micro-scale. This forms a very fine micro bevel, which is more obtuse and, therefore, more risistant to dulling. Until the micro bevel becomes so large and obtuse as to restrict the cutting ability of the edge, the edge will continue to become a little stronger and a little more durable with each time the blade is stropped.

I have not made up my mind if stropping does work harden it or not. As papa bear pointed out you have to stress the metal and deform it. to get work hardening you really have to exceed the yeild stress of the metal. This does happen when you strop. If stroping moves the "teeth" so that the "teeth" do nto spring back to their original position then stropping does create stresses that exceed the yeild stress of the steel. In that case I would expect the metal to have been work hardened some.