Thread: Added Linen. Improvement?

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

Nothing can ever be proven, because the word itself denotes an absolute state, i.e. it has always been so in every case in the past, is so in every case in the present, and will always be so in every case in the future. The historical record is incomplete and sometimes inaccurate, the present is underreported and usually inaccurate, and the future is unknown to everyone. Ergo NOTHING can ever be "proven." These conditions make the word "proven" useless and misleading.

Is that the same as: "there's No Present'? As soon as it happens it's the past and if you think about it, it's the future? Remember, Be there now!

What I find particularly interesting about this topic is that there has always been controversy surrounding it. In the 1961 barber manual excerpt on honing and stropping , that I frequently link to, here, they say that this is an issue that is debated amongst barbers. The manual says that a razor should always be stropped before shaving without exception but there are differing opinions on whether linen is necessary or not.

The manual recommends leather only if the razor is fresh off of the hone but always strop before a shave, and to do linen/leather if the razor has been shaved with last time around. I have experimented with this and early on if I honed a razor and went leather only it would usually not pass HHT. If I did the linen first it would usually pass HHT following the leather. So for a long time I always did linen leather, off the hones and between shaves.

Then, a couple of years gone by, I got curious about leather only after the hones and decided to try it again. I guess either my honing, my stropping , or both improved because for quite some time I do leather only after the hones and my razors do HHT 99% of the time.

When I read Lynn and Glen post about steel embedding in the strops it really freaked me out. I haven't noticed this phenomenon. Thinking about it I figured out that because both of them hone way more razors than the average shaver ..... and obviously strop the 'way more razors' it is not hard to understand why they have this happening. I also rotate between an assortment of strops which probably helps. Anyway, this is a heck of a hobby ain't it ? Lots more fun when you're honing and stropping your blades , looking for that perfect shave .... rather than popping a cartridge or a DE blade into a device.

JimmyHAD --
I'm just hopelessly addicted to stropping -- I can't help myself!

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

JimmyHAD --
I'm just hopelessly addicted to stropping -- I can't help myself!

Yeah well ....... these ought to keep you busy for awhile ....

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ght=experiment

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ght=experiment

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ght=experiment

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...g-article.html

And the grand-daddy of all SRP stropping threads:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ping-king.html

"Hail to the king, baby!"

Originally Posted by JeffR

And the grand-daddy of all stropping SRP threads:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ping-king.html

Oh, god...

(removed duplicate post)

I read the same thread about the embedded metal, so now I give the razor about 20 light linen laps after honing just to get the metal clean, then onto leather. After using 10 linen/ 10 leather to dry it off, and before using 10-30 linen / 50 leather

Yeah, cool, Michael. I actually FORGOT to NOT use canvas this morning, so I guess my experiment will have to wait 'till the morrow... :-)

Ha! That's something I would do

Michael