Thread: Absolute beginner stropping question

Originally Posted by griff199

Let me preface this with something you don't often hear on the internet: I'm not an expert in anything I'm about to talk about.

Having said that, it makes sense to me that leather - being a tanned hide - is going to have a "grain" to it, just like our faces do. I have a SRD red latigo and the sound is definitely different on the toward vs away stroke. Now, I've only been stropping correctly (I think) now for about 3 days, so it's certainly not a "broken in" strop (unless you call being sliced 30 times "broken in" )

That makes a lot of sense, and this morning I quit worrying about the sound and stropped it with the spine never leaving the leather. I got my usual great shave.

I have an English Bridle strop, which really has some draw to it in terms of both feel and sound.

Your expertise is underestimated in my opinion. Stropping is probably the "final frontier" I had to master in straight shaving. I've been doing it three years and finally got it down properly within the past month. The sound was the last piece of the puzzle, and I think you were instrumental in answering my remaining question.

My question is how can you learn hone before you strop?

Originally Posted by CaliforniaCajun

I have been concerned about the sound, thinking it should sound the same both ways. I'm wondering if I'm lifting the spine. It's hard for me to get the same sound going toward me as I do going away from me.

Related thread. I've been relaxing more when I strop and I have been really focusing on keeping the spine down and the difference in sound is much less than before. So the sound has proven to be a good feedback tool for me.

Originally Posted by EggSuckingLeech

Related thread. I've been relaxing more when I strop and I have been really focusing on keeping the spine down and the difference in sound is much less than before. So the sound has proven to be a good feedback tool for me.

Yeah, I'm to the point where I just need to relax and strop. Going a month without nicking or cutting it is a total turnaround, and I'm getting good shaves. So I think the stropping will continue to improve and any sound descrepancies will take care of themselves.

I'm still new at this so take it for what it's worth. I've noticed that hand rubbing my strop until it and my hand are getting pretty warm REALLY make difference in the feel and quality, I believe, of stropping. I too have noticed a different sound on the "to" stroke as opposed to the "away" stroke. However, I believe this is due to not stropping properly instead of a grain difference. When I have rubbed and heated my strop sufficiently it usually sounds the same on both strokes and has a lot more draw to it and just feels right. When I notice that different sound something just feels off. Somewhere I saw a thread that played a sound clip of a good stropping sound and a bad stropping sound. Guess which one was the bad. Yep, the one where it didn't sound the same on both strokes. Just my .02.

Yes, keep the spine on the strop, and drag the edge/bevel on the leather, is the best way I can describe it with words. So, any torque generated during your stoke (you always generate some amount of torque, though minimal) should be directed to the edge. You will possibly see or notice this in the Stroptober vids, but you'll only learn it with daily stropping.

+1 on what Jetmech said about rubbing your palm on the strop.

Once you get it, it's amazing what good stropping does to an edge. Good luck.