Thread: Stropping is King

I think the suggestion of using a new razor and strop and using lynn for the initial honing is a bad idea. We need to change one thing and see what happens. Since most of the discussion has been about the strop, that's the logical place to experiment. But if Lynn is going to evaluate the razor at the end, he needs to know what it was like at the beginning.

If in fact the strop was the special part, then this experiment won't take 6 months, it'll only take a month or so at the outside.

There's no problem with acquiring a matching set of Scott's equipment. If the success of that setup can be replicated elsewhere then we've got a much larger pool to experiment with, so we can isolate the magic ingredient that much quicker. And if it turns out that it really is Scott's stropping skills, then we'll need to come up with some way of isolating what is different about his technique.

Originally Posted by mparker762

This has only happened a few times. I don't do the thumbnail test after I leave the 4k. And I generally don't do the thumb test once the blade starts getting close. And in my experience wire edges pop hairs incredibly well -- actually "popping" hairs is a red flag for me.

I agree. I would never describe a wire edge as not quite there. If anything, it's really there and suddenly it's not.

I don't know if you stropped before you honed, but if you didn't and the fin was still misaligned, you cut off teeth that were really misaligned but lef those that were slightly misaligned, making the edge appear wider and not quite getting there. You also left microscopic spaces. When you shaved some moisture or swarf got into those spaces between the teeth. When you later stropped, it was forced out and the teeth were pushed together, making the edge seem sharper, and now it was there.

If you in fact stropped before you honed, you may have done so close to finishing a shave, and the teeth didn't have time to realign (up to 48 hours). With the teeth grossly out of alignment you need to push them much harder on the strop to get them back. Normal light stropping or even medium might not do it. That's why there's the danger of breaking teeth at this time (not my conclusion, Dovo's)..

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Great thread. I think it would make more sense to get the same materials; hone, strop, and razor (note the odd list of specific equipment he uses). Then have Scott explain what he does differently from what we do, while we try variances.

I'm going to work on getting the same type of equipment. I think I can learn to experiment to achieve better results (anything over 10 is better for me).

Alan,

You are adding this for a little bit of sarcastic bite aren't you? I mean, I am using pretty much the same stuff everyone else uses.

Without using the emoticons, it's a little hard to tell the intensions behind some of the comments.

Scott

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

I don't know if you stropped before you honed

The few times it's happened has been on ebay razors that I'm honing up the first time (lots of work on the 4k). Never seen it happen on one of my old razors, but the sample size is too small for this to be significant.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I also know that we will either prove that Scott can strop for a year with different equipment or he can't. Either way, the rest of us are no better off, except that (a year later) he still won't be able to find words that describe what he does.

I've used the best words I can come up with to describe what I do. Videos as well. Can you describe the sense of balance/coordination you have when riding a bike? Or is it best to experience it yourself?

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Should I look in again in 6 months to a year . . . or will Scott just say he was/wasn't able to replicate his success and can't quite describe what he does (again)?

???

this thread is very hot and I am a very busy guy right now so I have a request. Could someone please quote me so I can find your response, reply to this and catch me up, as impartially as possible, as to nature of the proposed experiment and the general camps or viewpoints of the participants?

Please and thank-you very much.

X

Originally Posted by xman

this thread is very hot and I am a very busy guy right now so I have a request. Could someone please quote me so I can find your response, reply to this and catch me up, as impartially as possible, as to nature of the proposed experiment and the general camps or viewpoints of the participants?

Please and thank-you very much.

X

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

Joe and I both share a certain amount of scientific skepticism. What you gentlemen are suggesting goes against tonsorial tradition, accumulated experience and the accepted modern theories, which leads us to believe one of the following:
1) You are honestly mistaken and have extremely thick skins and/or high tolerance for discomfort and/or low standards for shave closeness. (This also implies that your blades are sub-par)
2) Your strops have certain abrasive properties because mine sure can't keep a razor going past 15 shaves.
3) You're pulling our collective leg. (least likely)
The way I'd set up the experiment is:
1) Have Lynn find a razor to Scott's specs and hone/shave test it.
2) Have Tony M. send you a brand new strop, that only received stock treatment.
3) Have Scott use it for 100 shaves without using any hones or dressing the strop with anything other than Tony's stock strop dressing.
4) Have it sent back to Lynn for a re-evaluation.
That is ofcourse if the 3 gentlemen in question would agree to the experiment.

X This is where the whole experiment thing started but for opinions and arguments you really have to read the whole thing.

Originally Posted by xman

this thread is very hot and I am a very busy guy right now so I have a request. Could someone please quote me so I can find your response, reply to this and catch me up, as impartially as possible, as to nature of the proposed experiment and the general camps or viewpoints of the participants?

Please and thank-you very much.

X

See the next to last paragraph in message 164.

ok thanks guys, I think I get it. All I need to know is if it will proceed and whether there will be a new thread for the purpose. I am kind of trying something like this on my own anyhow, stropping my W&B as much as recommended by The Grand Experiment and seeing if it can extend the life of the razor beyond what I'm used to and how far. I guess I should let you all know how that goes.

X

Probably 2 separate threads, one being collecting the necessary resources and the other being on the actual experiment.