Thread: To Strop or not to Strop..that is the question

Augustagj,

A good rule of thumb is to strop when the shave isn't as comfortable as you'd like, be that every shave or after several shaves. I like to strop before every shave but sometimes go three or four shaves without stropping. The edge does recover a bit between shaves, and often I'll just straighten the edge by rubbing the ball of my thumb over it or give a couple of passes across my palm (which is actually stropping, I suppose). A caveat: don't do either of those things unless you are very experienced with a straight razor. The point in all this is that not stropping every day will not necessarily damage your razor.

Best Regards,
Jeff

Shaving slowly degrades a shave ready edge whether it is on a SR or a DE blade. Unpasted linen/leather stropping between shaves prolongs the edge. For how many shaves depends on shaving skill, stropping skill, and razor quality.

When the Unpasted strop starts losing effectiveness, it is time to refresh the edge using a pasted strop or finishing hone.

When refreshing starts to lose effectiveness, it is time for a rehoning.

FWIW, I do 40 linen and 60 leather after each shave. This works well on my Friodurs.

i refresh on a 4 sided TM paddle strop pasted with 3, 1, and 0.5 diamond paste.

HTH

Sure you must strop razor before shaving... n° times as razor need.
after the shave i clean razor and dry it....after I lay the razor on a table (or on a shelf) for almost a day (to be sure that there isn't much water or moisture) so I take the razor and strop it for 10/15 times to remove any micro oxidation that will be formed.
All this may seem very long and tiring but it isn't.... especially if you shave 1 time(max 2) a week

Originally Posted by JeffR

Augustagj,

A good rule of thumb is to strop when the shave isn't as comfortable as you'd like, be that every shave or after several shaves. I like to strop before every shave but sometimes go three or four shaves without stropping. The edge does recover a bit between shaves, and often I'll just straighten the edge by rubbing the ball of my thumb over it or give a couple of passes across my palm (which is actually stropping, I suppose). A caveat: don't do either of those things unless you are very experienced with a straight razor. The point in all this is that not stropping every day will not necessarily damage your razor.

Best Regards,
Jeff

I disagree.

Stropping realigns the edge that has been distorted by shaving. Stropping mitigates, but does not eliminate, that distortion/damage.

Not doing it before every shave leads to cumulative damage to the edge that sporadic stropping cannot correct as well as daily stropping.

Originally Posted by pcm

Sorry, meant to say I wasn't sure if I wasn't covering the area in my stropping, or if there was a problem in my stropping technique (not honing, as I haven't tried honing this blade yet).

Would I need to use the rolling x stroke for stropping this type of blade? I'll have to research into that technique, as this blade is getting harder to shave with.

Try the marker test for your stropping. GENTLY mark your edge, and then strop and examine the edge to see if the entire edge has been stropped.

Is any part of the blade shaving well? It might just be time for a honing.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Try the marker test for your stropping. GENTLY mark your edge, and then strop and examine the edge to see if the entire edge has been stropped.

Is any part of the blade shaving well? It might just be time for a honing.

Yes the the middle shaves well. I tried honing yesterday, and shaved today, and it is much better. I'll start a thread on that, so as not to high jack this one.

to strop, or not to strop...?

stropping with just leather should be just exercise, following the Mohs hardness scale leather should not scratch hardened steel in any form.

myself i find stropping really is necessary for a smooth shave, and i use the back of leather belts mostly without any paste or abrasive.

personally i say: "to strop." I'm sure it helps define the edge, but i never saw much difference at 60x magnification.

and for the people who use kitchen steels: try and get your knife sharpened professionally for a change, some craftsman who does it by hand, not the back-of-a-van types. if you have a nice 18 degrees total angle you don't straighten the edge after folding it, you knock it off. most of my customers stopped using these steel after i got them new edges on their knives.

i'm wandering off,

TO STROP!

Instructions from vintage razor makers:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...ng-basics.html

Thanks for the link to the razor manufacturer instructions, onimaru55. In reference to a discussion we had some time ago, I observe that the Bengall instructions again recommend that the razor be kept "quite flat" during stropping. Reading it and further experimenting prompts me to return to my original interpretation, that "quite flat" does not necessarily mean "completely flat." A slightly raised spine (by "slightly" I mean somewhere between zero and maybe five degrees) or a slightly slack strop can work wonders in making a razor's edge smooth and keen (sharp).

Originally Posted by JeffR

Thanks for the link to the razor manufacturer instructions, onimaru55. In reference to a discussion we had some time ago, I observe that the Bengall instructions again recommend that the razor be kept "quite flat" during stropping. Reading it and further experimenting prompts me to return to my original interpretation, that "quite flat" does not necessarily mean "completely flat." A slightly raised spine (by "slightly" I mean somewhere between zero and maybe five degrees) or a slightly slack strop can work wonders in making a razor's edge smooth and keen (sharp).

You have to remember "quite" is also a synonym for "completely" & is a quaint expression that was more common in those days.

I still think that anything other than having the razor completely flat on the strop is quite out of the question unless you are manipulating an edge in ways other than simple maintenance stropping.


A slightly slack strop can still equate to full contact of spine & edge. No argument there.