Thread: Stropping is King

Today I tried out the arching motion that honedright seems to use in his video. It works really well for me. I was able to use less pressure, keep the razor flat more easily, and feel more drag. Cool.

I think this is also one of the secrets to eventually developing some speed.

Before, I was doing X-patterns. But toward the end of each stroke I found it was harder to keep the razor flat. (I don't ever lift the spine, but sometimes the edge lifts off, which makes stropping pretty pointless.)

Today I was still using X-patterns, but I pivoted my arm at the elbow as I stroked, so the razor took a sweeping, curving path across the leather. It's a little hard to describe; watch the stropping video in this thread to see what I'm talking about.

Thanks, honedright!

Josh

Josh,

My sincere pleasure to have helped you find some improvement and success. Keep up the good work!

Once again you have made my day. (I could get used to this!)

BTW, you can call me Scott

Scott

Well I certainly hone more than once a year but I sure appreciate someone else finally suggesting that some pressure while stropping isn't herecy.

I had a thought today. Maybe in the straight razor's heyday, men were able to maintain their razors mostly by stropping, and honing was only needed once or twice a year like Scott's describing.

Unless most men knew how to hone, I can't imagin having to drop a razor off for honing every couple of weeks. There seem to be far fewer old hones available than razors. (That could be due to a lot of factors, granted.)

Anybody know some old timers who could comment on this?

I'll be interested to see how long I can get my razor to go between honings. My beard is pretty coarse, so it'll probably be a fun challenge.

Josh

Joe Lerch seems to have soaked up the history on these kinds of questions, so maybe he'll come in.

You're probably right to some extent about stropping. But I think men did then what a lot of us do now: get an initial edge from a master and then maintain it with pasted strops/barber hones/small Belgians/Eschers whatever, and then send the razor in when things get bad. Joe or somebody here has talked about American razors coming with little coupons for "10 free hones," along with the company address. I've also heard that tinkerers used to go around, offering among other things to sharpen razors. My father-in-law's memoirs from the 1920s and '30s in DC and Georgetown describe this, and in many parts of the world this still goes on.

Depending on where you live, there's still lots of places that specialize in sharpening household tools, but unless there's some real old guys there they don't usually know how to do a razor anymore.

Originally Posted by joshearl

Before, I was doing X-patterns. But toward the end of each stroke I found it was harder to keep the razor flat. (I don't ever lift the spine, but sometimes the edge lifts off, which makes stropping pretty pointless.)

I have the same problem, except I have a paddle strop. By the time the other end of the razor reaches the strop, I've got the edge lifted a little. I assume this is because of the amount of razor off the narrow strop at that point. I've been having trouble keeping the razor level to keep the edge flat. I've decided to get a hanging strop but I probably would have a similiar problem.

I am going to rewatch that video to see the arching motion so I can imitate it when I get the hanging strop.

It's interesting that with all the information on honing at SRP, I thought stropping would be fairly simple. Scott sure has changed my view on this and I plan on spending much more time developing my stropping skills once I get my razor back.

[quote=honedright;73169]

There are some, maybe one, who repeatedly claims that he can never get his razors to pass the HHT even though a honemeister has prepared the razor for him. He claims that he can shave with said razors, but I wonder if maybe he, and those experiencing the same, are missing something?

I am one of the guys who can't get a razor to pass the HHT, but all of my razors are shaving sharp.

Could it be that even though the razor was prepared by a "Honemeister", that same person is also a "strop-flopster"? Or maybe the razor was sent out perfectly honed and stropped, but was subsequently subjected to the work of a "strop-flopster."

BTW, I did a HHT on every razor before doing anything with it.

All of my razors pass the HHT everytime, all of the time, and shave "baby butt smooth". I have made the claim that I can go for up to a year or more without re-honing my razor, and keep it HHT shave sharp by stropping alone on a plain old, untreated strop. That is no exaggeration and no joke.

It's a pretty startling claim, and the first time I've heard it made. Even Dovo only say you can get up to a dozen. So, how about letting us in on your secret?

My standard for things having to do with str8 shaving is an old Italian barber I knew since I was a kid. I was fortunate to have gotten a few shaves from him over the years. This man had a huge following and a reputation as a master barber (he was "world famous" in Brooklyn). When I was young I used to pass his shop several times a day, and he was always giving shaves (well, mornings and evennings on week days). He worked with several razors on any day, and he was always doing stropping, sometimes mid-shave. But I also saw him doing occasional honing (just a quick refresh). But actualy, he spent his time shaving. If a razor needed real honing he sent it out.

My only point is this man did refreshing on a baber hone. Apparently in all his years of practice, he didn't figure out your secret, so I'm anxiously awaiting a description.

Originally Posted by honedright

I usually do about 20-30 round trips on both the linen and then leather, although sometimes I don't even count. I've kind of developed a "feel" for when I've stropped enough.

About pressure, I use enough to get a good "draw" on the blade. This means I can feel the blade pulling against the strop with some resistance. I've found this especially important on the linen side. I also try and get some draw on the leather and sometimes end with a few light trips on the leather. If you are using an IRS 827 "Russian" strop, you will have no trouble at all getting a draw. In fact, some may find that these strops give too much draw.

I also think it is important to keep the strop fairly taught while stropping. Not so much that you'd pull it out of the wall, but enough to prevent it from sagging. There is a link here on SRP (I think it's still here) to a Google video of me stropping, and honing. Take a look at that if you want. I do go a little fast and recommend that any new person slow it down a lot, at least until they have enough experience. In the video it looks like the strop is sagging a little, but that is normal. Believe me, I'm pulling the strop pretty tight.

Well, except for the number of repetitions (we have had experiments here that show 45 is a sweet spot) this is what I do, and probably everyone else.

What do you think you do that's different? What makes the edge last so long?

Hey Scott I have a quick question for you. This is something that has been discussed before, and I was just curious what you thought. Do you strop after the shave or only before? I strop before 40 linen/40 leather, and after 15 linen/ 15 leather. I like to be sure the edge is dry and stropping insures that in my mind. Anyway I just wanted to know if you stropped after the shave too. Thanks.

Originally Posted by 1adam12

Hey Scott I have a quick question for you. This is something that has been discussed before, and I was just curious what you thought. Do you strop after the shave or only before? I strop before 40 linen/40 leather, and after 15 linen/ 15 leather. I like to be sure the edge is dry and stropping insures that in my mind. Anyway I just wanted to know if you stropped after the shave too. Thanks.

Yes I do. I strop about 6-10 laps on linen then leather after the shave. This is after completely wiping off on a clean cloth.

I've read all the pros and cons to post-shave stropping, or to not strop after shaving, and have tried both. I am happy with the results I get with stropping post shave. There has been no noticeable decrease in efficiency of my razor from stropping after the shave. In fact I think it improves.

As always, I recommend you try as many different things yourself, as you can, then decide for yourself what is best. I offer all my experiences as a guide and as encouragement.

Good luck,

Scott