Thread: Slack Question

Hey guys,
I was stropping today and decided to leave a bit of slack in the strop when I was stropping. It wasn't anything major but it was enough that you can feel a little give when you draw the blade. Until today I've been pulling the strop pretty taught (no give). It seemed like I had better results today than before...just wondering if I'm supposed to have a little slack or if I'm really just screwing up my blade.

Thanks!

I've wondered the same thing. I've noticed I get better results if I leave a little slack in the strop, maybe a 1/4 inch or less vertical give (if that makes sense). My newb theory is that I was holding the strop way too taut before, making the the strop cup slightly and therefore decreasing the amount of contact the razor has with the stop. Not sure if that is actually happening, but it makes sense to me. I'd also like to hear what some other vets have to say about it.

Ken

Guy's you need to keep the strop taut. Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Wiki Not too loose, not too tight. Go slow at fisrt so you don't "roll" the edge. That is a bad thing and can ruin a edge. A rolled edge will need some "gymnastics" on the stones. Gymnastics is a G Man term I borrowed. Keep the razor spine in contact with the strop during the entire draw. Go slow with a light hand. your speed will increase with practice. You will know if you have rolled your edge because your your razor will pull. I hope this helps.
MIke

This is a very complex question. First, strops have two functions, polishing and shaping. You are shaping the edge if you are allowing slack. All strops, even paddle strops have some slack programmed in. 1/4 inch is pretty extreme though. Between 1mm and 2 mm is pretty "nominal" in the slack department. Some things to watch for though, include: whether your honing is really up to snuff and keeping the slack consistent. If you need to shape the edge after honing you may not be getting a really good edge and once you try inducing a certain amount of slack it's hard to always hit that same mark. Additionally, you may find that the razor's honing interval shortens. I would recommend using the original slack (that you both already noted helped), and the resultant improvement as a benefit, but then go back to taut stropping. You should maintain the benefits of the "shaping" that you did, and continue polishing on the strop with a taut strop after that.

Now, in general, a strop is maintained taut (extended) but you need not hold it abnormally stiff, for it to work. A little deflection is okay, and depending on the honing, may even be beneficial. This part can be hard to explain but essentially a strop is actually a simple "machine" sort of. Like the fulcrum or the screw. The tautness of the strop works against the programmed deflection to both polish and shape the edge with every pass. The two factors work against each other to create a "machine" like operation. I'm hoping to make another video of this soon, but the camera angles are eluding me.

Anyway, the strop is held extended, often referred to as taut, but not really stiff. If you hold the strop out naturally, extended, and start stropping you'll see that it deflects downward, naturally, just a little bit. And that little bit is okay, even a benefit. The motion of the razor over the strop will induce greater tension on the hanging strop and the two forces begin to oppose each other. The opposition of the two forces is what creates the maximum effectiveness of the strop. But, you have to be really careful, because you can create a stropping action that is wicked powerful with the slightest deflection.

At some point, if your doing it right, you'll feel the razor moving down the strop slightly, in the hand that is holding the strop handle. Once this begins you're really working that edge. As you can imagine, just thinking about simple geometry, going overboard on the deflection, will dull the razor significantly. But, at the same time, failing to really understand the opposing forces and how they are acting is also not really going to help you either.

What you've done is shape the edge. But you still have some more practicing to do. :-)

Also, if you notice travel strops that are paddles though seemingly a stiff piece of wood are really designed to flex a little to simulate a hanging strop. You have to experiment with how tight to hold it. I've seen guys try and describe it as maybe a 1/4 of an inch or so slack though I think it's a bit more. It's one of those things you do all the time but don't realize exactly how you do it.

In my experience it is the force on the edge of the razor from it's weight against strop's surface that makes a difference to how the edge is shaped/polished, not whether the strop is kept taught or allowed to sag. Pesonally I don't worry about it and allow the strop to sag an inch or more in the middle. I just be careful to keep the spine just barely touching the strop and maintain a moderate to light weight on the edge.

Keeping the strop fairly taught is certainly sound advice, though. It's kinda' cool how there is a lot of room for personal style with these fascinating shaving tools.

Originally Posted by JeffR

Keeping the strop fairly taught is certainly sound advice, though. It's kinda' cool how there is a lot of room for personal style with these fascinating shaving tools.

It is cool but as most newbs have not had the time & experience to develop "a personal style" a taut strop removes one variable for error.

I follow the "Hold it tight, and strop it light" mantra 99% of the time. When stropping wedges, I let a little more slack exist. (I sometimes struggle with wedges, though, so who knows whether this is good technique.)

Originally Posted by LarryAndro

I follow the "Hold it tight, and strop it light" mantra 99% of the time. When stropping wedges, I let a little more slack exist. (I sometimes struggle with wedges, though, so who knows whether this is good technique.)

I do the same thing and my razor is always nice and ready to roll.

When I first started I thought being taut was paramount so I used to tie one end of my strop to my Honda Civic and the other end to my Son's Honda Civic and when the wheels were spinning it was time to strop. Only thing is my car has a bigger engine and I would start to pull his down the street so I had to learn to strop fast before we reached the end of the block.