Thread: Having trouble on the flip

I'm sure everyone struggles with the stropping part but I find it increasingly difficult when stropping flipping the razor on its spine. My tendency is to want to do it on the blade. Is this natural or am I doing something wrong? I have really pay attention to what I'm doing when I strop or I do it wrong without realizing it. And the grip feels extremely unnatural to me. I'm not sure What I'm doing wrong. Any advice in the ways of grip and technique?

Originally Posted by asudue86

I'm sure everyone struggles with the stropping part but I find it increasingly difficult when stropping flipping the razor on its spine. My tendency is to want to do it on the blade. Is this natural or am I doing something wrong? I have really pay attention to what I'm doing when I strop or I do it wrong without realizing it. And the grip feels extremely unnatural to me. I'm not sure What I'm doing wrong. Any advice in the ways of grip and technique?

Have you seen any videos, afdavis has some really good stropping videos, and if you like swimming pools, moustaches and bald men check out jimbos video it's good too

Don't try to move to fast.. There is a learning curve for everything and some people struggle more with one part of the shave than the other. Just take the time to get accustomed to the feeling of the razor sliding across the strop, consciously roll it on the back of the spine, and repeat. With patience comes control. And remember, slow is smooth, smooth is fast..

Read these blogs. Might help.
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This is how I do it - Move from the shoulder, lock your wrist, pointer finger on the bottom jimps, thumb on the top jimps and use your thumb to flip it (roll your thumb).
If your pivot pin is loose (razor moves back and forth a lot) you may need to tighten that up, that makes it very difficult to strop.
That's odd that you want to flip from the edge seeing how the edge should always be pointing away from you while stropping....I would think that would cause some rather awkward motion, that seems counter intuitive to me.
All I can say for your strop's sake and your wallet.....maybe use a butter knife to practice, and go slow.

I'd like to add, if your strop is long 21" plus try using less area on your strop. I found newer strops to be to long for me. I think working in a shorter area allows far more control, that's why my strops aren't all hacked up now, JMO....

I'm guessing my grip isn't right. I was stropping tonight with a butter knife tonight like you suggested Trimmy and then trying to mimmic the action with my razor without actually touching the strop and my tendency is to want to put my thumb on top and not underneath like on a lot of the videos i've watched. When I go to flip I almost loose my grip on the razor and drop it so I know I'm not doing something right. I try to watch videos and do what I see but its just not translating somehow. I'll keep working at it.

Originally Posted by asudue86

I'm guessing my grip isn't right. I was stropping tonight with a butter knife tonight like you suggested Trimmy and then trying to mimmic the action with my razor without actually touching the strop and my tendency is to want to put my thumb on top and not underneath like on a lot of the videos i've watched. When I go to flip I almost loose my grip on the razor and drop it so I know I'm not doing something right. I try to watch videos and do what I see but its just not translating somehow. I'll keep working at it.

That's what I do put my thumb on top of the shank, using your pointer finger as the pivot rolling the shank/tang with your thumb on top. The rest of your fingers, use to hold the scales and shank/tang to help lock/hold the razor and scales inline. Just takes time, you'll get it! ease up on any pressure you might be applying, the weight of the blade is all you need, maybe try it with the heel leading instead of straight back and fourth

Practice, practice, practice! It will get to be a natural movement. I open the razor so the blade and scales are straight. Place my thumb at the heel and use it to roll the razor from side to side. Start slow and have patience. Good luck.

two tips that helped me a lot......don't go fast until you get the hang of it and don't worry so much about the flip, worry more about keeping your stroke long and consistent.

personally when I strop I find it easier to sway my body with the motion of the blade instead of reaching, IMO its like when you reach your arm behind a couch trying to get a pen, sure you can reach it but its harder to grab. That's because you lose dexterity when your muscles are fully extended.

Watching the videos for me was instructive:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ght=Stroptober