Printable View
Silly question but...
When I strop, the sound it makes is certainly different on one side of the blade than the other. I have chalked this up to the blade orientation but it COULD also be an indication that my technique is different in one direction than the other. Is it typical that the "away" pass on the strop sound different from the "toward" pass on the strop?
I've always associated this with uneven hand pressure. You can emphasize the difference if you flip your wrist while stropping rather than the razor (proof that doing so is a bad idea). I once saw a gentleman associate this sound with the grain direction of the strop, but I flipped my strop and found the sound to be identical.
If you are concerned with your stropping, and are planning on making the meet, we can assess your stropping technique.
Another possibility is that the material of the strop has a directional texture which sounds different for each direction.
hmm - so are you saying that if you concentrate you can actually get it to sound the same in both directions? I figured that the direction of the hollow would influence how it sounds...
The last possibility is it could be natural acoustics. To test go very slow with even pressure both ways. If it sounds the same it is probably a problem when you speed up. If you hear a difference it is probably sound reverberating differently on going and coming back.
I think the sound should be the same on both sides. In fact, I use the sound as my guide to determine if I am stropping properly.Quote:
Originally Posted by EggSuckingLeech
OK - I tried to consciously make the sound the same on both directions. I can do it but I need to concentrate. If this is "supposed to happen" then this is a pretty valuable lesson for me because I must lose my angle as the blade is drawn toward me.
I just blame the doppler effect and try not to worry about it. :)
It is suppose to sound similar. For example you shouldn't here a scraping sound one way and a ting sound the other. But as long as they are both scrapping sounds and generally similar you are fine. Going slow and keeping them very similar will allow you to gain muscle memory and will allow you to speed up.
Now THAT's some quick stropping!Quote:
Originally Posted by Cangooner
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! :)