To strop or not to strop. That is the question.
I think that most of us would agree that stropping is something that we can't live without. This morning I re-honed my new Red-point 917 and finished it on my 15k+ welsh slate mystery hone. After 40 passes with no pressure and just water, I wanted to see what it could do to hair. I grabbed a strand of my wife's hair, which is extremely fine, and went to work. The blade was passing the HHT in a few spots along the blade. SO I started stropping. I did 100 passes on my vintage pigskin strop and was amazed with the difference! The blade is now passing the HHT throughout the length of the blade. A few times the edge bit the hair and actually split the wife's fine hair!
In conclusion, stropping is a must, for me anyways. I've seen people mention shaving right off their finishers but after today I'm clearly sold on it. I think my stropping technique has improved greatly over the month I've been shaving with a straight razor as well and perhaps that has something to do with the final edge on my razor!
:rock:
To strop or not to strop. That is the question.
Proper stropping does produce a different edge, but the argument can also be made that that edge is not completely necessary to actually get a good shave. The hanging hair test is not shaving so it really is pretty irrelevant to the suitability of the razor to actually shave comfortably. If the razor shaves and doesn't pull and tug and cause irritation is by far a better measure.
Take DE blades one of the sharpest is probably Feathers, those blades cause a ton of irritation on my face and I've heard the same from others.
That said, I do strop 20-40 times maybe and get a good shave, I do think there are lots of factors and skin and beard type are probably just as big a factor.