Thread: Stropping is King

Josh,

I'd say my beard is of average density??? I'm of Eastern European (Russian) stock on my mother's side and German/French on my father's. So my beard is fairly heavy, tough, but not so much that I have that perpetual heavy 5 o'clock shadow like a few guys I've seen.

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.

The linen on my strop is a vintage waxed one. Unfortunately no one makes these any longer. I think it is one reason for my success. If you can find one of these in good shape I suggest you try one.

The linen on the new IRS strops is very good too, but really requires some breaking in to get the full benefit.

Good luck,

Scott