Thread: What is your stropping method?

Back and forth with a flip over the spine at each end, spine leading the edge...



Sorry, had to be a smartarse, it's in my nature. I don't bother to count and I use both sides of a home made 'roo hide strop.


Mick

I roo too! Never used anything but leather in my life. Well, I have tried other things like linen or canvas (even corduroy), but really they never added anything for me, IMO. I just keep going until I feel the edge is ready, then I stop.

James.

new to this, very new, under two months.

I was using leather only for a while, then I tried leather/linen, wrong order, I think.
Just switched it around, linen then leather and am getting MUCH smoother shaves, I think.
Do about 50 laps on each and will play with the numbers/ratios over time.

My normal routine is 40 linen/60 leather. Off the hones I'll increase my leather laps to the 80-100 region. If it's a heavy wedge I'll increase the ratio to perhaps 50 linen/100 leather.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

I roo too! Never used anything but leather in my life. Well, I have tried other things like linen or canvas (even corduroy), but really they never added anything for me, IMO. I just keep going until I feel the edge is ready, then I stop.

James.

I have tried many surfaces, pasted and plain, but leather has no equivalent. I go straight from my Naniwa 12K to CrO balsa and then leather only for me until it needs to rotate back to the 12K, or if necessary back to my 4k/8k Norton. There is still some debate on whether any other intermediate material is necessary or even helps in the hands of the inexperienced. I am increasingly convinced from discussions on this forum that beginners would do better with a flat, wet-stone size surface like a leather paddle for stropping because so many seem to mess up with the flexibility of the hanging strop. I think plain newspaper on the edge of a table would be more reliable for some newbies. I have used this in a pinch and consider it to be very close, but not equal to leather.

Gentlemen,
I strop south to north, 30 laps on the canvas and 60 on the leather. Off the hone, the count is 100 strokes, leather only.