Quote Originally Posted by honedright View Post
Joe, you say there is some type of abrassive on my strop, but where did it come from??
The only thing I can tell you is that there must be. Just like I know there must be gravity if I'm not floating around. Even if you were/are the Michelangelo of stropping, you couldn't remove material without some abrading.

BTW, I use the Fromm cream too. It provides an abrasive quality in that it makes the leather draw more. That means it has more friction (as compared to a strop where the blade slides freely).

Robert says he heard that the reason you need occasional abrasion is to remove micro-oxidation. It's as good an answer as any. But it could also be minute wearing of the fin. One way you could rule out wearing is if the razor needed refreshing even if it wasn't used (you would get the oxidation regardless). I have some razors I may not use for weeks at a time. I've never noticed that they need refreshing after a single use and just sitting around.