Thread: All Str8's strop the same?? Or not!?

I came to the idea yesterday that all St8's don't strop as easily as others, point in fact I have in the last few day's been stroping very nicely with a couple of 6/8th's I have been shaving with, good times good times.
Now to my point, I picked up one of my 4/8th razors and it just did not feel right in my hand as applied to my leather for stroping. Insecure, not a good grip. It made me strop slower and with less competence than usual.
I have one other Str8 that makes me feel less secure about my stroping and I believe it is the combination of handle size and blade feel in the hand that does it.
Question, am I the only one that notice's this or is it more common than I think that not all razor's strop equaly??

Sorry to bend you shell like ears on such a weird subject, bug me though.

tinkersd

Its more about the razors steel used..some guys here make their own strops...I never read anything bad assuming the process was done right..some razors have thicker/thinner steel used in the razor making process which would make you wonder of the opposite

I fully agree different razors have a different feel in the hand when on the strop. Size is the most common issue but I find going from my Swedish frame backs to my english or french frame backs is a big difference because of how skinny the swedish razors are in the shoulder and shank.

The bigger the blade, the easier it is to strop.

For me, razors with big, beefy tangs are much easier to grasp and roll on the spines while stropping. I have three or four favorites in my collection in this regard: A Kropp 5/8, Sprock 6/8, a 6/8 Dovo Best and an ancient Wade & Butcher that sounds like a sword being unsheathed when it's being drawn over the strop. Music to my ears!

Cheers!

Originally Posted by ace

The bigger the blade, the easier it is to strop.

+1, that is about it.
For me anything that is 5/8 and up strops equally easy. The 4/8 and 3/8 need more careful stropping because of the size.

Another one finding bigger blades,6/8, with thicker tangs easier to strop.

Bob

Larger blades naturally have more surface area and will sit flatter on the strop, so there is definitely merit to what you are saying. Two other factors that come to mind are razor balance (blade vs scales) and tightness of the scales, which will also determine stropping ease. So yes, all straights do not strop the same

Other factors such as the tail design and length can play a factor too. My DePews was a real pita to strop due to the long monkey tail until I rescaled it and allowed the scale design to "absorb" the tail shape.