Thread: Stropping speed question

Also and I am trying to explain this from somebody explaining it to me...

The video cameras most of us use are not that high a quality and there is something having to do with the frame rate and the stropping speed that makes it look even faster then it really is ...

Here is a thread about average stropping speed we did a few years back,


http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ng-strops.html


the 60 laps per minute is really a comfortable speed 1-1000 up & back

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Go at the rate you feel most comfortable with. It is most important that when you start you develop the correct technique - speed is secondary and will increase with practice and time.

Generally, after that most people's natural speed is fast enough for effective stropping. The "fists of fury" stropping you see sometimes in videos (and I'm as guilty of it as anyone else) has a lot to do with showing off and little to do with efficacy. But hey, a hard-earned skill deserves to be shown off sometimes so we all cut each other some slack!

But yes, please don't worry about speed at this stage. Concentrate on keeping the razor flat for the entire stroke, developing the flip correctly and with confidence, and keeping the spine constantly in contact with the strop. Once those things come together you can worry about speed.

Good luck.

James.

Good advice.

Looks like I'm a tad late on commenting!!..been out of town a few weeks due to a death in the family. But the comments were all very true and accurate. My father taught me to strop on newspaper! He took about 4-5pages and cut strips out of them. Then took 2 pieces of wood strips and screwed them together and screwed a loop on the end. He gave me a sharp razor and had me practice without cutting or tearing the paper.I shredded a lot of newspaper! And it taught me good habits, as with the real strop pop always "warmed" up the strop with his palm AND always warmed the razor in steaming hot water before stropping.Explaining the heat in the leather and the steel were a key element. I never asked why, just took it as gospel!
Good luck you're heading into a life long hobby.

Gents:

In my personal opinion I have to say (with respect) that stropping is like intimacy speed isn't mean quality. I think the key is precision. I have 3 strops including a Kanayama and is not nice to damage it just because you are doing your stropping too fast. The key is precision and not too many passes, just about 40 to 50.

thanks
Kenneth

After eight months I am cozy at about one lap per second ("one-wade-and-butcher..."); I can go faster but at 1-lap/second I do not make errors.

When I was a kid, my barber, Fred Wallace in Royal Oak, MI, moved his razor across a strop so fast you could bare see his hand. It kind of magical and came with a pretty loud "FWAP" sound each time the blade turned. I think Fred had been barbering 30-years then and he used the razor for just about every client on neck, 'burns and over the ear - maybe he still did a few shaves every Saturday, too; I know he shaved himself every morning at the shop. It is late in the game for me to work on an 100-lap strop but, if dreams of competitive speed-stropping start waking me up at night, who knows?

Let me throw a twist in on stropping. I have been afflicted with life long tics and jerks. More so as a younger person. Maybe aging has mellowed it out. Thankfully my first strop was a cheap Hashir. That's only used now for the linen side covered with crox. The thing about tics, etc. is you have no control over their occurrence unless you are super aware of your movements. With that in mind I find relief in stropping because tic avoidance is based on a tuneless, mental rhythm I establish like a Zen moment before I start. I do MisterMoo's one wade and butcher two... for timing and have a 25linen/50leather/25felt/50leather tic free time in my day. I do a Russian Shell strop first followed by a 3' English Bridle felt/leather strop. Finding it gives me beautiful performing edges.

This is kind of an odd strop story and I don't think it deserves its own thread so I'll toss it in here. I'm on my second strop. My first strop ended up with a lot of nicks at the far end of the stroke. I think I would flip and keep going in the same direction (away from me) for a bit...enough to lift some leather. So I gained some skill and it was time to get another strop, an upgrade. Around the same time I increased the number of strokes and had to deal with a little hand fatigue. This fatigue would have two negative effects, one, my grip kept slipping down the shank toward the heel of the blade....and this would cause me to lift the razor from the strop and restart it so to speak.....in the process of this action I started to make a few feathers in the near end of the strop as I was setting up again to go down the strop. I'm not happy about this and will eventually eliminate this bad habit....and, dang, might have to move onto strop #3.

I started off slow but nower days I strop 150 laps after a shave and then 150 laps before my next shave, that's 300 laps per shave.
The only way I can bear it is by going fast.
Speed for me is a must.
Go slow though, you will get faster with time.

My stropping speed is still not as fast as most folks around here, but as others have said, precision is more important. Yes, when doing 50 passes everyday, you want to finish today. But with all due respect to Fred mentioned above, think about it; When you see a barber in a movie stropping at warp speed, isn't he usually played by Stan Laurel or Harpo Marx?

I remember rolling around on the floor laughing at the Three Stooges when they were tuning up this old guy for a shave. Shep stropped up a razor after he had slopped on the soap with a huge brush. He then put on these really thick glasses and had to feel his way to find the old guy's face. Well, it's funny when you see those guys do it.

Stick to it, slow and methodical. One day you'll grab your strop and realize that all the diligence has paid off in producing a pro. You'll still have a bit of trepidation on your less than 100% days or when you unwrap that brand new Tony Miller or Scrupleworks beauty. Even now I take a few slow, deliberate passes before I go at it at usual speed.

Stropping is something that should be enjoyed and not seen as a labour or task. It is fun. There is a mental thing going on when you are doing it right.

Chasmo