Thread: Stropping for Sharpness

Originally Posted by mike1011

I'm new still to razor honing, having now only done 14 ebay specials I am very much still developing my razor technique.

I had been finishing on a 12k naniwa followed by a cro ox pasted strop but I was finding the edges pretty harsh until they were 3 or 4 saves in, at which time they became comfortable.

With that in mind the last 3 razors I have honed I've skipped the cro ox and instead gone straight to a plain linen and leather strop (2-3 hundred on the linen and about the same again on the leather). Using this method I have been getting nice comfortable shaves straight away.

Does anyone else find it much more pleasant to just strop after the last stone or am I missing a trick with the cro ox ?

I am still pretty new to honing as well but i have never used anything after my last stone but a cloth strop followed by leather and neither pasted. I have had pretty smooth shaves as long i had my bevels set.

Also that is going from a Norton 8k to the strop. I have yet to aquire a stone that is any finer than that yet. Thought i had a natural one for finishing but after some experimenting it seems to undo what i get from the 8k.

I also find a good linen and then leather to be a more comfortable edge than chromium oxide (which itself is already fairly comfortable) and almost no less keen if the finish stone is a good one used properly.

It's a little easier to always use chrome ox after the final stone to be sure the edge will be uniform, but the shave is more comfortable for me if I come off of a natural japanese stone or something else of a natural stone variety - less bite and less chance of shaving off little bumps, but still no grab from the razor atg.

Originally Posted by DaveW

I also find a good linen and then leather to be a more comfortable edge than chromium oxide (which itself is already fairly comfortable) and almost no less keen if the finish stone is a good one used properly.

It's a little easier to always use chrome ox after the final stone to be sure the edge will be uniform, but the shave is more comfortable for me if I come off of a natural japanese stone or something else of a natural stone variety - less bite and less chance of shaving off little bumps, but still no grab from the razor atg.

Same experience here. Diamond seems to get it super sharp but maybe a bit too much.

Originally Posted by kelbro

Same experience here. Diamond seems to get it super sharp but maybe a bit too much.

I think the face likes something that leaves shallow grooves on the edge of a razor, because whatever leaves shallow grooves leaves an even edge once the wire edge and other bits and pieces are stropped off. Strop off the deep grooves of the diamond and you still have serrations/striations, whatever you want to call them.

the roundest abrasive I can think of is the coticules, though they are not fine (at least I haven't yet found a coticule that matches a japanese stone).

I think they knew exactly what they were doing 75 years ago when they designed those linens - it's not like fine lapidary powders didn't exist.

Coticules are a different feel all together from a jnat.. A coticule uses garnets to sharpen while a jnat doesn't .. A coticule will leave a softer edge then that of a jnat IMO.. Jnat are known for there aggressiveness.. .


The op topic of this post was changing the angle of the razor while stropping no expert here but IMO afvdavis is definitely on to something here ..since I have imcorporated this style into my stropping my edges off the hones have significantly been better

Holding the blade at an angle to the strop likely changes the pressure slightly. Any change in how we hold the razor will often change the pressure. Could also be the strop, leather grain and surface finish affect draw and glide.

I would have to disagree here: properly done, a Jnat edge does not have to feel aggressive at all. A good one, properly used can get quite sharp, which may feel aggressive if too much pressure is applied, but that's a shaving technique issue. Honestly, I think this is where a lot of these "too sharp" comments over the years have come from--people are using too much pressure to shave. Once they back off the pressure, their razors suddenly get smoother & last longer between honings.

I'm not sure where I am on the continuum of this discussion, but started doing a heel leading x-stroke even on a 3" strop, because i felt it stropped the whole edge more evenly....I'm not sure why I thought that except sound of the strop. I don't use a 45° angle however, probably closer to 30°.