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Hi guys!
I've read some of the articles here about stropping, watched some videos and trained for about a month.
I recently made had a friend record my stropping, which I put up here; YouTube - CLIP0072.AVI
I'm hoping that some of you would like to take a look at my technique and give my some pointers.
/Markus
Welcome to SRP. That is not the way I strop at all. Here is a good read on correct stropping (IMHO) from the SRP Wiki help files. It is a 1961 barber manual excerpt on honing and stropping. The last couple of pages are the stropping recommendations. Pay specific attention to the instruction to learn to flip the razor without doing the stroke. Only begin the stroke when you feel comfortable with the flip.
I like my strop to be mounted waist high. This is where I have observed pro barbers mount theirs years ago when they routinely used straight razors. I know that some guys mount them high and it works for them but I think a door knob height is better. YMMV. I hold the razor with the tips of my forefinger on the tang just behind the heel and the tip of my thumb opposite on the top of the spine. For me that makes for a very efficient flip. The middle, ring and small fingers kind of cradle and support the scales which helps to control the razor. :gl:
Why all the pressure on the blade and strop? SRP member hi_bud_gl made an excellent youtube video on stropping, please find it and that will help you greatly!
Bloody hell! You can actually see the strop being cut to bits in that vid. You need to roll the blade over on it's back to flip it and you don't need to put your weight onto the blade like you're doing either.
You're just polishing the edge on the strop, the sharpening should be done on a hone. First stand facing the strop (and the wall I too I suppose) grasp the strop and pull it firmly towards you. This is your starting position. If you insist on standing side on adjust the below instructions to suit.
Grasp the tang firmly as someone described above, but don't strangle it, lay the blade flat on your strop edge towards you and while keeping the blade flat, slide it up the strop. If you need to, while you slide it up the strop you can slowly slide it across (from heel to toe) as well, to cover the entire length of the edge. Time this to end close to the end of your stroke.
Before you reach the end of your stroke start to roll the blade over onto it's back. At the same time your sliding motion should start coming back towards you and the blade should be layed flat with the edge away from you. Never should the spine of the blade lose contact with the strop.
As the blade comes to the end of it's stroke towards you, start to lift the blade off the strop again, still maintaining contact with the spine and strop. You've just completed one pass and have started on your second.
Good luck.
Mick
How does the razor shave after that????
This is the video it may help .Quote:
Originally Posted by nun2sharp
check it out.
YouTube - straight razor stropping
You have the opposite problem from me, I was way too light. I don't think you could press down any harder than you are now.
What videos were you watching?
"Way too light " will not damage the edge if form is correct. Heavy will chip or roll the edge.Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffegg2
It may not have been too light, you may have been lifting the edge off the strop, I use light strokes and from what I have seen, most people do.Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffegg2
Looks a bit heavy handed for sure, but as Glen asked how is the shave?Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
If the razor shaves well, then no problem. If it doesn't, well then.......
I'm wondering that as wellQuote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
But I'm equally curious to see which bits of markus' technique will be pointed out as straying from the fundamentals of stropping
As the other guys have said, WAAAAY too much pressure there. Ease up a whole bunch and follow the technique in Shams video. You should get much better results that way!
That video helped my stropping technique when I first started. Thank you much for that explanation.Quote:
Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl
Thank you guys, I guess I've a some work to do applying your tips.
As for how the razor shaves it is worse than the first time I used it and it hurts a little.
Hello, Markus:
I, too, recommend the stropping video made by hi_bud_gl. It's an excellent study of how to strop properly. Especially study how he rolls the blade from the shank between his thumb and finger without moving the wrist.
From what I can tell, your method seems to use excessive pressure, for starters, and that finger does not belong on the blade. Also, rather than lifting the blade off the strop, try to roll it on the strop. What's more, from I can tell, you're using a 2-inch strop, which means stropping in a cross pattern will cover all the blade.
It's a question of practice. You'll get it. In the meantime, thank you for taking the time and making the video.
Regards,
Obie
Hey guys! Here is a new video of my stropping technique after some correction. Give me your thoughts! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1MopqcgnZQ
(Unfortunaly my cameraman didn't capture the whole stroke but I hope that the video is good enough anyway for assessing my skill.)
Yikes! In the first clip it looks to me like the razor and strop are being ruined.
Way way too much pressure, too stiff, too loud-sounds like sand-paper!
Stropping is a light, gentle action in which only the strop leather is tight. The blade is held very lightly on the leather on which it makes a sound that my wife (who is no fan of my new-found love of SR shaving!) characterizes as "oddly comforting."
Agree with the suggestion above to get the flip right before doing anything else.
Stropping doesn't require a month of training! It's not hard, but does require a couple points of attention. Tight strop, light pressure. My SRD Premium I strop has been used now maybe 200 times. It has 1 nick on it, and the leather is developing a kind of changed color and texture, but not wearing like the one in this clip. And I'm not a super-skilled stropologist, but my razors for the last month have been wicked sharp and creamy smooth.
In the second clip it looks to me like after the flip, the razor moves a bit with the spine off the strop. I try to be very intentional about turning the razor on the spine, keeping the spine on the leather, and making sure that's right before the next light, slickery stroke.
It's getting much better. Slow down a bit and smooooooth things out. There is no need to speed up going down the strop only to slow down at a crash pace at the end of the stroke.
Think more like the blade is "skating" along the strop, not drag racing.
It might be a good habit to always apply the spine first onto the strop, then just before the edge touches down start the smooth motion down the strop.
I might even suggest moving the spine back and forth on the strop for a bit, simply as practice.
Also, make sure that the belt you are using is flat and smooth, no grooves in it. It might have been an optical illusion (and I'm exhausted) but I thought I saw parallel grooves.
I would like to politely disagree slightly with some of the above posts. Whether the razor shaves great or not in the first video you are tearing apart your strop. A great shave is an important point, but, having a strop to use by the end of the week is also an important consideration.
Slow down, the razors blade should lay flat on its side, thus spine and edge remain equally in contact with the...strop????
Get yourself a wider...strop. The one you are currently using in that second video is only giving you about a half inch of safe working surface.
Less pressure too I think.
All in all a vast improvement, visually at least, from the first video.
Mick
Thanks for your comments guys.
I read somewhere on this site that a common cause for a dull edge is slow stropping which is why I try to keep up some speed.
As for the strop that I'm using, it's actually a lether belt. I destroyed the first strop rather quickly so I'm using the belt as practice material. I will get another strop soon (hopefully).
I doubt if "slow" all by itself makes any difference unless we're talking about dramatically slow.Quote:
Originally Posted by 11markus11
Slow stropping might be part of a package in which the strop is too loose, the flip is sloppy and the pressure too much--that will certainly dull a razor.
I find I want to "pace" my stropping. I would not call it slow or fast, just deliberate. The "One thousand one" idea noted earlier is good advice. My pace is to count my laps with "A one and back"..."twenty and two" etc. with the first number the up stroke and the second the back stroke.
I also make my flip point the SRD logo at the top of the strop. I very deliberately flip the razor right there. If I go too fast, I'll hit the mount above the logo, so it makes me be deliberate and intentional.
More and more, I'm realizing the even, light touch is the key to this. If my contact is good, my touch light, my strop appropriately steady (not stiff and rigid, but steady with some spring) my razors have improved with every shave.
big improvement from your first video. In the first video you can hear the blade "ting" as it was nicking the strop.
You are on the right track... keep practicing! Good job! :beer2:
When people strop slowly they tend to over-do the pressure on the razor and under-do the tension on the strop, so in effect, bad technique dulls the edge, not slow stropping IMHO.Quote:
Originally Posted by 11markus11
I noticed that, a suit pants/dress belt no less. I think you should get yourself a new strop (a cheaper one for now) to practice on. Or at least get a wider belt to spread any weight, you may be inadvertantly putting on the edge, over a wider surface area, thus giving it more support.
You're improving and, at the end of the day, that is the main thing.
Mick