Thread: Quick stropping experiment

OK, so all this talk about stropping being king got me thinking: How much of a difference does stropping make, anyway?

Tonight I pulled out my paddle strop, loaded with 1 and .5 micron diamond paste, my hanging Tony Miller strop, and a handful of hairs.

My daily shaver was pulling a bit, so I did 10 laps on the 1 micron and tested. It plinked the hair--I could feel the gentle tug on the hair.

After another 10 to 20 laps, it was cutting the hairs without any noise. I noticed that the razor is very sensitive to pressure at this point. No pressure at all worked best. Just a touch of pressure and the razor lost ground; a few light laps and it came back.

On to the .5 micron side. Again, very sensitive to pressure. A couple of times it lost ground after about five strokes, and I realized that my edge was losing contact briefly at one point in the stroke. I think that slight unevenness made the edge bend off alignment. A couple of good light laps brought it back. I got it to cut my lighter hairs cleanly. On to plain leather.

Ten strokes on the linen, then 20 on the leather. Test. Pulling and noise on the HHT!

Ten more strokes, lighter this time. Some improvement, but still not cutting the hair cleanly.

Ten more strokes, with some pressure at first, then very light pressure on the last three strokes. It was just about back to its original sharpness.

This was a big eye opener for me, proving just how much stropping matters. Bad stropping took my edge to what I'd expect off the 8K Norton. More careful stropping brought it close to its full potential at 25K to 50K.

Here's what I learned: Stropping is crucial. The number of strokes might matter, but the quality of each stroke matters more.

Start with enough pressure to make the razor drag just a bit. For me, this pushes the strop down just a bit--maybe 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch. Then lighten up toward the end. Concentrate on each stroke and take it slow.

Nothing new, I know, but I was really impressed with just how much of a difference it made.

Josh

Josh,

Your post just made my day!

Scott

Heh, after reading Scott's old posts I whipped out the plain leather (red latigo) from Tony too.

Worked on several razors, which I shave with, which had variable smoothness. They all felt different and I think I discerned that I need different pressure with each to achieve desired sharpness. On almost all razors I had to use more pressure than I regularly use to improve the edge. Especially on a somewhat rough 8/8 W&B Barber's Use. I think I got my 8/8 Friodur shave-ready too, but this took 10 laps on the Swaty first (it was only coming off 8k before)

Still not up to the Wonderedge, which I think would require / tolerate much less pressure to improve...

Thanks for the posts, guys!

I applied what I learned last night to this morning's shave, and the shave was noticeably better.

It's clear to me now that I had just been stropping mindlessly, without a particular goal in mind, just because it was part of the routine. It was causing problems and I didn't even know it.

I think part of this is because I started with a cheap strop, which helped me form some bad habits. Now that I can see the difference and have a Tony Miller strop, I'm going to start paying more attention.

Thanks for opening my eyes, Scott!

Josh

Josh - your point about developing bad habits with inferior gear is a good one.

I started with a used Dovo hanging strop (not sure which one, but one of the narrower ones) it was pre-dressed by the previous owner. The leather had a light draw and it seemed to do a good job, but I had to pull it quite tight to get the tension I wanted as the leather was quite thin.

I then bought a 3" red latigo strop from Tony and got a starter strop in red latigo.

I used the starter strop and didn't get as good a result as I was getting from the Dovo - the leather had a lot more draw and I was likely using too much force for this reason. In fact I had the same experience as you - I was actually dulling my razors rather than keeping them sharp.

I have just over the last couple of days started using the 3" strop - first off, the leather is conditioned differently than the starter strop and it has less and more even draw. Also, the hardware helps me maintain constant tension - which allows me to use less tension - which in turn has given me much better results.

I've also been paying more attention to my technique, which has helped alot.

The interesting thing is that I took some razors that I had dulled slightly and gave them 30 laps on each the linen and leather - doing the same thing you did - a little pressure and then lightening up. Using this technique my sense is that I've been able to bring the edges back without having to use the pasted strop. It may just be me - but I'm going to keep experimenting.

I do think that the threads that have been posted over the last couple of days have sparked an interesting debate and some good advice.

I'd like to hear more about different leathers and the pro's and con's of using linen, as I think it would be interesting to hear what some of the more experienced members have to say.

How light is light? Just the weight of the blade on the strop?

These stropping lessons are very good for someone brand new to all of this like me. Thanks everyone!

Oh thank God Josh! What your doing, besides good stropping, is building the draw out to improve the edge. If the edge is already hyper sharp there is little need for the initial pressure to build the draw.

Now, lets refer back to your honing lessons . . . does this release of pressure sound familiar?

Next question . . . and I think Honedright will enjoy this one. What is the practical limit of this draw ability to "sharpen" a dull razor? How dull can a razor be that it can still be "drawn" out.

Anybody remember that crazy video of the guy slapping the razor on the strop?

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Oh thank God Josh! What your doing, besides good stropping, is building the draw out to improve the edge. If the edge is already hyper sharp there is little need for the initial pressure to build the draw.

Now, lets refer back to your honing lessons . . . does this release of pressure sound familiar?

Next question . . . and I think Honedright will enjoy this one. What is the practical limit of this draw ability to "sharpen" a dull razor? How dull can a razor be that it can still be "drawn" out.

Anybody remember that crazy video of the guy slapping the razor on the strop?

Alan, I kind of touched upon that one in an earlier post when I mentioned that stropping could correct insufficient honing, it just requires more work.

I was first exposed to this idea by a barber who told me that while it would be easy to over-hone a razor blade, it was nearly impossible to over-strop. He said that if a razor were a little under-honed, you could bring it up to shave ready by stropping, but it would take a long time.

Just more food for thought.

Scott

Amazing stuff isn't it? Scott, do you use this technique at all to maintain your edges between honing? I've always just re-honed?

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Amazing stuff isn't it? Scott, do you use this technique at all to maintain your edges between honing? I've always just re-honed?

Well, like I've mentioned before, I go a long time between honings. Up to a year or more. I go so long without honing that when it's time for me to hone again, I have to re-train myself to hone.

It's kind of a pain!

Scott