Thread: Stropping Technique - Advice Sought

Alright so I made a couple videos of my stropping technique and would appreciate the input of our wise shaving community.



I also recorded stropping with the other side because the you can hear the sound of my strokes much better:


Any and all comments appreciated. Thanks!

Right off the top I would say there is way too much wrist in your flip. The flip takes place with rolling the shank between your index finger and thumb with very light assistance from your remaining fingers rolling the scales.

Next your stroke is slightly choppy. Smooth out your stroke and get a consistance speed - slower is better to start. Try and use ther intire length of the strop as well.

It is not easy to know how much pressure you have on the edge verses how much on the spine, but there should be just enough pressure to keep the edge on the strop.

Finally, I would keep my strop a little more taught.

Ok, that's it. Despite the comments I have made, if you are not ruining your razor or your strop, that is a great start.

Keep the practice up - it is definately a muscle memory thing.

Alembic

I nicked mine when I went over the leather lip where it attaches the strop to the handle. I would say to watch out for that on the downstroke when you start building up speed.

Originally Posted by Alembic

Right off the top I would say there is way too much wrist in your flip. The flip takes place with rolling the shank between your index finger and thumb with very light assistance from your remaining fingers rolling the scales.

Yeah, I've been working on this. It's hard to get it to flip at the right time without the wrist help but I'll keep at it.

Originally Posted by Alembic

Next your stroke is slightly choppy. Smooth out your stroke and get a consistance speed - slower is better to start. Try and use ther intire length of the strop as well.

I've nicked my strop many times and some of the cuts are still deep (there is a little flap of leather) so I only use the part of the strop which doesn't have any nicks. Perhaps there's a way to smooth out all the cuts I've made?

Originally Posted by Alembic

It is not easy to know how much pressure you have on the edge verses how much on the spine, but there should be just enough pressure to keep the edge on the strop.

Finally, I would keep my strop a little more taught.

Roger that.

Originally Posted by Alembic

Ok, that's it. Despite the comments I have made, if you are not ruining your razor or your strop, that is a great start.

Keep the practice up - it is definately a muscle memory thing.

Alembic

Thanks!

It looks like the speed is two or three times faster
than you need.

It looks like the up stroke speed is better than the
down stroke speed.

It looks like you are yanking the razor down the strop
rather than gently pulling it.

There is a video
YouTube - ‪Straight Razor Place '09 Convention. Lynn Honing #3‬‏
Check about 3:14 min into it


StraightRazorPlace videos and gssixgun videos
on youtube are worth a look.

I'm new to this (5 weeks) but I'd agree with the comments about how taught the strop is; I hold mine MUCH more taught than that, mine hardly curves at all. It's hard to tell how much pressure you're using, but I use VERY little pressure, I also go quite a bit slower. I find that I need to force myself to concentrate. I do 30 linen, 70 leather, and sometimes find my mind wanders a bit. It's a bit like meditation, making sure you concentrate on ONLY the stropping; keeping the strop taught, keeping the blade perpendicular to the edge (I don't use an x pattern; my strop is narrow so I do an end at a time (toe end in contact, flip, toe end in contact, flip, heel end in contact, flip, heel end in contact, flip, etc) and keeping the pressure light..
Hope this helps.

RyeWhisky,

Please have a peek at these stropping videos by hi_bud_gl and afdavis ; they are excellent

‪straight razor stropping‬‏ - YouTube