Thread: Stropping on 3"

I got a 3" strop from Tony so the entire blade fits on the strop with nothing hanging off the edge.

Is it OK to pull the razor straight down the strop without any cross movement? I.e. if one uses a narrow strop then the blade moves down and across the strop effectively stroping at an angle. Does this need to be duplicated with a full-width strop?

Some say yes and some say no. Try both and see which works better for you.

I've got the same strop and slightly have the heel leading, seems to offer a better result, but I'm not an expert at this stropping lark.

Gary

I'd say no. Just straight down is fine.

I also have a 3" strop from Tony(Great product by the way). I
have found that at about the same angle as for honing(heel leading), but not necessarily a crossing motion like an x pattern gives a better result for me.

Since the leather is not abrasive to steel I would guess that it would not matter whether it is straight, X pattern or at an angle.

I am guessing that most of the difference that is observed has more to do with how the different approaches affect the stropping motion of the human holding the razor. Can't prove it though without a controlled experiment.

So, I would say try different ways and pick the one that you find most comfortable and gives you the best results.

I have a 3" Jemco strop and though I don't use it much these days when I did I just went up and down and it seemed to work fine. With a strop your not trying to put teeth into the blade just dressing it up so the pattern shouldn't matter. Of course on a narrow strop you have to do an X or diagonal pattern to get the whole razor on the strop.

I usually strop straight down, razor 90 deg to strop when using a 3". On the 2 1/2" I use an X-pattern. As for the teeth issue I think you will find that honing with an X patern creates teeth going exactly opposite as they would when stopping with an X so I would not worry about trying to duplicate the X on the strop because it would not be the same.

Of course it's late and I'm tired and my 3-D mind may be tired as well. if someone more awake can prove the teeth would go the same way, go for it! <g>.

Tony

I have the same strop and 90% of the time I just keep it straight across, but sometimes I'll do a tail leading set of laps.