Thread: Reverse X-Pattern..?

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

It doesn't seem to me that it would make a difference. If you're not nicking your strop that way , and you do nick it the other way, I would continue in the safer (for the strop) way. If after awhile you feel you're results aren't as good you can always switch back. Moved thread to stropping forum.

I'm nicking going regular x but not nicking doing it reverse x.

When doing it regular i always seem to either bed the toe in or lift it up, so i guess if i'm lifting, i'm risking rolling the blade and not stropping the toe right. Will stick with the reverse x i've got used to

Strop with the pattern that saves the strop and to heck with the Xs, Ys, Zs, or whatevers. You want to strop the whole edge and if your strop is narrower than the razor you need to come up with some way to pull the heel to tip of the razor across the width of the strop while pulling and pushing the razor along the length of the strop. And what works the best for you without damaging the strop is the proper stroke. It's a simple as that.

Good stropping - good shaving,

I do both! I stroke in an arc from left to right and back. It's what's most comfortable for me and ensures that the blade edge stays on the strop on the return stroke (a problem I had initially). The toe starts on the strop, mid-stroke the toe's off the strop but the heel is fully on, then by the end of the stroke the toe's back on and the heel is off. This is getting me good results so far. I think the key is that you get the whole blade on the strop in the course of your stroke. However you do that is up to you.

Peace,

yeah you guys are right. The only thing i'm vaguely worried about is when I get to honing, stropping is good practice ground for the x pattern which seems to be fairly integral to the honing process.

member TonyJ once said, "With narrow strop is easier (for me) to strop the way where tip leads and with motion of X pattern. It might be also a must to get the whole blade stropped properly. Tip leading keeps the blade better against the strop due to reversed forces of left and right hand."

Originally Posted by tekbow

The only thing i'm vaguely worried about is when I get to honing, stropping is good practice ground for the x pattern which seems to be fairly integral to the honing process.

You know, it sort of is, and it sort of isn't

The thing is, the flip is what gave me the hardest time, when finally picking up honing.
Ideally you want that to basically be the total opposite of the honing flip.
This is due to an edge leading stroke while honing, not edge trailing, as when stropping.
The X-stroke was easier to learn than the reversed flipping

I had to work for it for weeks and weeks before I could do the proper honing flip, having learnt the stropping first.

The x-stroke on the other hand, was pretty easy to adapt to.

I hope this made some sort of sense, I sometimes find myself regretting bitterly all those skipped English classes at school.
I was young, the beer was cheap, and they looked so good...

I would also say that you would be ok with a reverse X stroke. While I think the motion of the x does help a blade more then a straight stroke the more important thing is consistency in your stroke.

Just make sure your razor doesn't catch on to what you're doing! As long as it thinks you're making a conventional X stroke I think you can get away with it.

Hello,

Has any one tried angling your straight stropping stroke, kinda like a guillotine stroke? I do it sometimes because the paddle strop I made is just slightly too narrow, so i angle the stroke while still going straight along the length of the strop so the whole edge is in contact without moving the blade along it's edge.

One thing to consider is the scratch pattern in the bevel formed by the standard heel-leading x-stroke during honing. If you strop with a toe leading x-stroke, then the motion will be aligned with the scratch pattern of the honing. If you strop with a heel-leading x-stroke, then the motion will be perpendicular to that scratch pattern.