Thread: Can you do without the strop?

I hardly ever hone my blades once they're sharp. I do use some of the white paste on the linen side of my strop so the razor is getting a little sharpening each time I do that.

I see many of the old razors on E-bay have a lot of hone wear. More than I would give a razor in 3 or 4 lifetimes. I wonder if any of the users of these blades were just honing every day instead of stropping.

With the Swatty hone I primarily use I think a blade would still last a lifetime with 3 or 4 strokes on the hone every day, but then you might see some hone wear after a few years.

I'm going on vacation tomorrow, and packing a nice old Henkels 7-day set of razors. It rolls up easily and fits well in my Dopp kit, as does a hone. However, a strop is a lot bulkier and harder to pack. I think I will leave the strop and just take the hone. With a 7-day kit it's just one or two hones on each razor, and they will probably thank me for it.

Stropping is one of the fun parts of my shave, so I really don't want to drop it long term. I am curious though as to whether or not some of the old-timers only honed? Any information or thoughts on this?

I'm hardly a razor expert, but given the choice between running any other blade over a stone or steeling it before each use, the steel seems a much better choice - since it doesn't remove metal, you prolong the life of the blade.

I would certainly take a strop. I've tried shaving without stropping and even directly after honing it's not quite what I want my shave to be.

X

I think you'll find that the thought of shaving without stropping is kind of like taking a shower with you clothes on. Stropping should be considered manditory.

Originally Posted by Howard Wallace

I see many of the old razors on E-bay have a lot of hone wear. More than I would give a razor in 3 or 4 lifetimes. I wonder if any of the users of these blades were just honing every day instead of stropping?

Keep in mind that some of these worn razors came from barbers, who probably gave them both the strop and a few licks on the hone before every customer.

Originally Posted by mparker762

Keep in mind that some of these worn razors came from barbers, who probably gave them both the strop and a few licks on the hone before every customer.

I hadn't thought of that. I barber could easily put multiple lifetimes of hone wear on a razor.

I think I have the opportunity for a good test. I'll use one single razor from the kit every day, and just hone on the Swatty. If the shaves start to deteriorate too badly I can always use other razors from the kit. I can also compare the razor used before and after to a control razor from the kit. I can look at both edge quality and hone wear before and after. I'll let you guys know how the test goes.

If you had previously stropped the razor after honing, I would say yes, you could get away with shaving, and skipping the strop once or twice, but...I wouldn't put a razor to my face that had just come off of the hone and hadn't been stropped. That would result in a pretty rough shave.

Scott

Howard, stropping and honing are not the same thing. Other than smoothing the edge, the reason a strop works is that the microserrations of the edge spread out during a shave, making the edge seem wider (less sharp). Stopping just stands them back up or aligns them, making the edge seem thinner. Neither leather nor linnen is supposed to remove material.

Honing removes material. If you hone without stropping first, the microserrations will be spread out and you will cut them off to narrow the edge. If you strop first, the amount of material removed is mnimized. If you hone instead of stropping you're spreading the teeth out and then cutting them off (without aligning them), and the amount aof material removed is maximized.

If you strop and only refresh with a hone when the stropping doesn't restore the razor, you can go without real honing indefinitely. You'll always have a keen edge, and material removal is minimized.

There's no excuse for not stropping. You can do it on a belt, jeans, or a newspapeer in a pinch.

Originally Posted by honedright

I wouldn't put a razor to my face that had just come off of the hone and hadn't been stropped. That would result in a pretty rough shave.

I agree, but it also depends on how you're honing. After an 8K you certainly want some stropping. But on higher grits you may not need polishing.

For example, I'll routinely not strop on leather if I use a .5 or .25 paste (equivqlent to 50K and 100K). I have very sensitive skin and I can't feel the difference. Stropping on this fine a pasted strop still provides the benefits of leather stropping stropping.

Also your shave quality is not going to be pleasant. A "honed only" razor would be a very harsh shave.

Glen