Thread: Sound of stropping

To be a bit more serious than I was earlier (!), as mentioned above, there are a number of things that could be at play:

- your pressure could be different. Not only in terms of how much downward pressure you are applying, but also how that pressure is distributed between spine and edge
- your bevel could be wonky. That would present a different profile to the strop depending on which side was touching the strop. (not sure I'm convinced of that explanation is it should be pretty darn close, barring damage)
- your edge or spine could have some damage or part of the profile that is different (i.e. excessive hone wear on one side, dinged the edge on the tap, or ???)
- your strop material could present a different sound profile depending on which direction you are stropping. I have three strops and I suspect that one of them has this characteristic as the difference in sound is much more noticeable than on my other two.

Of the things you can easily control, pressure is probably the most important. Make sure you're not torquing the blade (i.e. using a twisting force to apply extra pressure to the edge), and that you're not applying too much downward pressure. I think the suggestion above to focus on flipping the blade with your fingers rather than wrist is an excellent one as that should help give a gentler, more even pressure.

If you haven't already, check out the stroptober thread:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...st-2012-a.html

One thing I learned from that is that taking a video of yourself stropping can be surprisingly instructive. For example, it turns out I was using my wrist way, way more than I thought I was.

Anyway, if none of this helps, take a close look at your edge (with a loupe of you have one, or just paying attention to the reflection of a light source on the bevel if you don't) to see if there is in fact some damage there. That, too, would cause one side to sound different.

EDIT: and if nothing helps, there's no visible damage, and the thing shaves well - don't worry about it!