Thread: To strop or not to strop. That is the question.

The only reason I was fooling around with the HHT is that I wanted to see the before and after effect on the blade and had already shaved! Being impatient this was the only way. What I can say is that it definitely made a difference.

I also happened to shave with my red-point 917 that I was mentioning and nicked myself a few times with it.

I like playing around with the HHT as you describe. A single strand if hair used several times during the refinement process can provide some interesting insight.

Most would agree that a shave is THE meaningful data point, but I still maintain HHT has some utility.

Well, to satisfy my own interests I too my Dovo Bismarck that I FINALLY got a really nice edge on and re-honed it just like I was finishing a honing progression. I did 25 LIGHT x-strokes on a Naniwa 12k using just enough water to moisten the stone. No pastes, no strop.

I'll shave it tomorrow morning and report back....I don't expect it to be very good, but I sure hope that it comes back to as good an edge as it was...

If you're wondering why I'd kill an edge that I finally just got tweaked up nicely....Why not! That's how I learn. I hone way more often than I have to, and I'm constantly re-honing my blades in an effort to get a slight improvement over my last honing job. I'm a touch obsessive...


I'll report the terrible results tomorrow after...but I'm not already biased, promise.

Gentlemen, A day without Stropping is like a..... You know, a day without stropping!(:-)

Can't wait to see your face matt

I've shaved right off the hones. My feeling is that a stropped blade is more comfortable to shave with than an unstropped blade.

Michael

I'm actually a little surprised by the results.

I just did my cheek, but could have easily finished my whole face without stropping the blade.
It still plowed through the whiskers like a hot knife. I did strop it after ding my cheek, just to make it as good as it could be.

I must say though, the 12k edge alone was fairly acceptable.

Occasionally, I will touch up my blade on my Swaty mid-shave without taking it to the strop again. I presume this would not count as "honing without stropping"?

From my experence from shaving stright from a Coticule, stropping doesn't add sharpness really only smoothness. Stropping has never made my blade able to cut better just feel better.

Originally Posted by 111Nathaniel

From my experence from shaving stright from a Coticule, stropping doesn't add sharpness really only smoothness. Stropping has never made my blade able to cut better just feel better.

Well said Nathaniel.