What is your favorite Stropping regiment? I have become particularly fond of 60 laps canvas, 30 cowhide, then 100 horse hide.
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What is your favorite Stropping regiment? I have become particularly fond of 60 laps canvas, 30 cowhide, then 100 horse hide.
Probably 60 on leather period is all you need. On fabric 10-20 is good. More won't hurt it but I think you're exercising your arm.
Just my opinion.
My stropping strategy could best be described as "the living heck out of..." on kangaroo. Also known as the "beejeebers". As in, strop the living beejeebers out of ... . Stop when the beejeebers are no longer present. :)
James.
I generally stick with 25 on poly-web and 50 on leather. Double that the first strop off the hones.
Before shave I do 60 on the felt and 100 on the leather. After I do 30 on the felt and 60 on the leather
I aim to do 50 on my SRD EB, but I usually get bored by 35.
I used to do about 10 off the pasted (chromox) leather. Then 25 on the felt. Then 50 - 100 on the leather. Then I did away with that and went to just the 100 on the leather. Found that I preferred the original method, went back to it with one exception: first I do about 4 laps on a pasted linen. Then generally 5 - 10 on the pasted leather. Then same original routine. But lately, since I just got a new Hart razor, I'm only doing the leather strop. Not for any particular reason except to see how long the edge will hold out. So far(after four shaves), it's performing exceptionally well, i.e., no difference then when first received. It should be a neat experiment!
My stropping regimen isn't very regimented. I usually strop on leather for about fifteen seconds; I don't count laps. When the razor starts to feel a little dull - when it will no longer "catch" and cut the whiskers instantly when shaving I strop on canvas for a minute or two and then on leather until the razor is sharp and smooth again.
I very rarely go to canvas/cloth these days. I almost always use my Chicago Special from Hand American.
For hollow and wedge alike:
Forty before the shave 10~15 after the shave.
A man than knows what he's doing! :)
I was asked once how I could stand to do 200 strokes on a strop. Its easy, I replied. Start w/ 300 and relax a bit.
Off the stones, I'll typically do 100 linen, 100 latigo or Ill 361, then 100 on either SRDp1 or vintage shell. When I test more than one edge in a day, 1400 strokes for the day is common.
For daily, I'll do 60 linen, 100 latigo, 100 SRDp1 before shave. After, about 30/50/50. I don't need to touch-up very much at all.
I do 30 passes on the canvas and 60 to 80 passes on the leather.
In my opinion shaving is not only a physical thing but also a psychological thing. So if you think more passes gives a better result, than it will give you a better shave.
30 laps on linen, 60 laps on leather.
Another consideration might concern the hardness of the steel. At one time I had one of those very ancient Acier Fondu razors. And man-o-man was that steel soft. I could shave with it, in fact, it was a fairly comfortable shave, but not exactly a killer shaver. You could practically remove the steel by rubbing your thumb over the blade (not really, but you get my meaning). I'd heard that the TI razors have a Rockwell of around 65 - making it one of the hardest steel razors in town. Interested to know how those guys shape up their blades. Anyone?
On a daily basis, I do roughly 30-50 or so on SRD webbing and then 30-50 or so on SRD Premium 1.
Directly off the hones, however, I strop the "living daylights" out of my razors (200+ on webbing then +/- 100 on the leather). I've found the extra stropping directly off the hones helps. YMMV
50 on leather before shave, and 25 on leather after the shave.
10 on leather. Don't worry, over 5 or so days it adds up. Shave gently enough and you aren't in need of any corrective action.
I use the 20-30-40 method....
20 Linen
30 Red Latigo
40 Horsehide
When I am done shaving I give it 10 on the linen and put her away
30 TM Linen
30 SRD Latigo
30 TM Steerhide
40/60 on linen/leather before shaving, 30 or 40 on leather after.
After honing 30/70 (linen/leather)
Before shaving 30/70 (even if the post honing stropping was just the night before)
After shaving 10/10....
Interesting, I never noticed that you can feel the removal of the stray fragments on the linen. But I will in the future pay closer attention while doing so. My routine is nothing special. I have read what everyone else here said, and some point or another I have varied my routine; sometimes to my detriment, at other times, it seemed to make little difference. About the only change I've made as of late, is the removal of the pasted linen strop in my routine. Instead, I just do maybe b/w 5 & 10 passes on pasted leather, then maybe 20-30 on the linen. Then I aim for about 50 on my leather. Then I do another 50 before I shave with the razor for a total of 100 lashes.
I do 40 on the felt, 60 on leather,
THEN at mid/shave another 20/20
then after the shave another 20/20
seems fairly effective, for me at least.
tinkersd.
after honing 10 felt with CrOx, 30 premium cotton, 80 Horse Butt
Daily 30/60 cotton then horse butt
post shave 25 horse butt
20 laps on my SRD paddle (leather) before each shave works great for me.My new pro honed razor needed 10 laps on the green pasted rough leather and another 20 on the smooth side before it shaved right.
I'll never trust "shave ready" again.
I've bought a couple razors in my time, particularly from members here and occasionally from the RazorEmporium. Those guys at the emporium advertise their razors as NOT shave ready which, is fine with me, as you know what you're getting. In fact, the razors I've bought from them seem to come with the bevel set and just a little needed honing and some time on the paste and the leather and they're good to go. All things considered, I have been very happy with all my purchases from those guys. One razor I bought from a member at this site named Doughboy (something or other) was advertised as shave ready and I can attest to his (or her, you never know) honing ability and his word. It was just as sharp and pleasant a shaving tool as any in my collection. So, it all depends on the seller. I for one, do believe that [most] all the sellers at this site are honest and, most importantly, knowledgeable amateur hone-meisters.
40 laps on fabric/linen and 70 laps on leather.
I usually visit the bathroom as the last thing I do before going to bed. I will choose the razor for the morning shave and give it 50 laps.
The next morning I make my lather and give the razor 25 laps before I get-er-done.
50-70 laps on leather for me. My stainless seems to require the full seventy.
Once a month I touch-up with CrO pasted balsa then back to the leather.
Twice a year I touch up with Naniwa 12k, then CrO pasted balsa then back to leather only.
This works for me.
With this regular regime I rarely need to reset the bevel.
Giving it some thought, I rarely reset the bevel too. Most all my razors came to me second-hand and the bevels on most have been set; except, of course when I think it needs it. I was wandering off topic, anyway, one great thing about this site is all the "illumination" provided. I have tried things I learned here that I never would thought of doing. So it is with surprise that I suppose I have come full circle. Lately, I have been simply trying to avoid anything but the minimum maintenance on my razors. I have basically been just using linen & leather. Then when I feel a little pull, I do maybe 3 - 5 passes on the chrox. I have been ignoring the hones as long as possible just to see how long that can be. One thing for sure, it's not as long as some make it out to be. I recently had to hone (lightly mind you, a touch up) my new Hart after about six weeks of shaving almost every day (the exception were a couple days of using other razors for experiments discussed on this site). But it's scary sharp once again. So, we shall see how it goes.
20 laps on Belfast Linen, 40 laps on Medium Scotch Shell, 60 laps on Fine Scotch shell.
All on my beautifully restored Medal of Award Strop (Love it)!!!
OOOh NO..!!!..................................Not...The BeeJeeBeers.!....not that...........No, this can't be..........Oh.....:w
touch up:
10 laps chrox on balsa
5 laps .25 diamond spray felt
10 laps .125 cbn felt
40 laps latigo
40 laps TM steerhide
Everyday:
40 laps linen
50 laps steerhide
Before shaving: 40 on a cubic boron nitride painted strop followed by 15 on linen and 40 on plain leather. After shaving 20 on pasted strop again. Keeps the edge going for a very very long time and gives me the fresh from the hone feel every shave.
Kees...Greetings. I'm very interested and have a few questions if you don't mind and have a minute to answer them. First: what is a cubic boron nitride painted strop? And, why do you like it over other strops? And, again, what do you mean by "After shaving 20 on pasted strop again." If you could clarify it would be most appreciated. I mean, apparently, your method is everyone's goal here. And, I figure it this way, there might be something in your method maybe trying and worth learning. Thanks.
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To cflaageriv,
Kees is from Netherlands and may not be familiar with English puncuation. That is why you are not grasping his message. His post should read like this:
After each number should be the word "laps". And a comma after the word shaving.
Before shaving: 40 laps on a cubic boron nitride painted strop followed by 15 laps on linen and 40 laps on plain leather. After shaving, 20 laps on pasted strop again. Keeps the edge going for a very very long time and gives me the fresh from the hone feel every shave.
I hope this clears up your confusion.
JERRY