Scary Stropping

So here is a video of my barber Mr. Lee stropping his razor. It looks funny to me but his shaves are smooth and comfortable

YouTube - Mr. Lee

Looks crazy, but if it works, it works.:rock:

You can certainly see that he has a good technique when he is flipping the razor, but slapping it on the strop seems a little unusual. Cool video!

Thank you for the interesting video! The flourishes Mr. Lee so skillfully demonstrates reminds me of the way barbers were portrayed in old western movies. Perhaps those movies weren't so far off the mark as we thought!

Cheers,
Jeff

I think that is part of the "show" slappity slap! Kind of like a wrestler leaping from the top rope! :popcorn:

That's the way they all did it in the old days. Nothing unusual about that at all.

But when they slap they are not slapping the end of the blade it's the spine and upper parts of the razor.

+1 on what TBS said. You can see he never pushes the edge into the strop, and there is no excessive deflection when he "slaps" the razor down. I wouldn't be comfortable stropping like that cause it's not a skill I posses (or desire to posses), but there's nothing inherently wrong with it.

I remember as a kid, when the barber would pull out the straight razor to touch up my neck, he would slap the razor around on the strop.

I guess year after year of repetitive motion builds the ability to take a bit of license..
I go slow and steady!

Wow that's some skills! It's like playing a super hard fast god-like guitar solo behind your back. Isn't it ? I'm just saying .. :)

I've used those slappy motions. They are fun and can produce nice edges. He has some great skill there.

I'm pretty sure if I did that, I'd have at least 2 short strops!

Gentlemen:

Yes, these old timers did things differently from what we do today. Although their ways and methods look odd to us, those pros knew what they were doing. I am most pleased with my stropping method, because it works quite well for me, but at the same time, I have nothing but admiration for this gentleman's stropping skills.

Regards,
Obie

I remember when I saw Maestro Livi's stropping for the first time and being shocked at how sloppy and careless he looked, basically the exact opposite of how we preach it here at SRP. We have to have some confidence in these people that they have been doing this for a while and know what they are doing. Different strokes and all...:)

OMG!..he beats his razor..thats cruel and unusual punishment!..though that leather strop looks good n heavy!
:rofl2:

:dropjaw:

PcDad

Awesome video.

Key point is he keeps strop so loose will not hurt the edge.
if strop was right tightness that edge will be horrible.

I strop the same way as the guy in the video - nothing to it. Of course i'll be going out to buy my 47th strop sometime later today... :D

Does he shave his customers with same devil may care attitude?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by welshwizard

Does he shave his customers with same devil may care attitude?

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Nope his shaves are smooth and comfortable, if you watch and listen he strops in time with the music

Wow. That was a fun video.

I'm with dburnette i would have a few extra straps after that exercise. Awsome vid thanx