Thread: Why do they recommend using the Strop after shaving and before shaving?

Originally Posted by WW243

I have read a tome on this subject by Edward Lilywhite Norton (he quotes heavily from an earlier work by one Ralph Kramden) where he delves into Quantuum Physics and simply says that if you believe it, it is true and further, we make up everything. If only Lynn would help us......someone please send out the Bat-Signal!

Ah - The Honeymooners!

Yabba dabba do, Bill (Ralph was also the model for Fred Flintstone).

Sorry, but I have to chime in here as I had a similar experience while posting:

First, to the OP: I agree with the most of the folks here - try stropping before, after, before and after - find what works for you! Maybe edges need to rest, maybe they don't. I live in near zero humidity, but, if I liked by the ocean? I'd probably strop before and after, just to try and remove any possible moisture or rust on the blade... that's me though - makes sense in my head anyway! (and no one wants tetanus)...

Second, from my experience on this thread (and lots of others)... this is the INTERNET. People love to voice OPINIONS and state them as facts. I explained my position on this site, and some "senior" member who is supposedly some kind of "scientist" babbled on about how he thought my explanation wasn't valid (he was SO superior that he couldn't explain his position though...) Of course! since he has been a member on some thread for 8 years he MUST be speaking ex cathedra because he says he is old and wise and super and what not... (At least he claims to be - he could be a 16 year old kid right? It IS the internet after all...)

Furthermore, I see people asking Mr. Lynn Abrams for guidance: Mr. Abrams, I like your site, I think your videos are great, I've bought stuff from Straight Razor Designs (and been very pleased with my purchases)... AND I still don't think you're the absolute final authority on all things related to razors! (oooooohhhhh!!!! - sacrilege!!!) ...

I'd like to hope that everyone here has a brain and uses it! The statement "Your Mileage May Vary" is used a lot in wet shaving circles, but it seems like it isn't actually believed by a lot of members! The only thing I can say with any certainty is what works for ME - that's IT. The folks on here who think they know it all because they are metallurgists or Nasa scientists or homegrown engineers or whatever - the one thing that absolutely CAN be said with certainty is that they don't everything about ANYTHING.

Just some words of wisdom:
Education doesn't guarantee wisdom. Degrees and titles don't make anyone smart or intelligent. If anyone tells you their way is the ONLY way, they're wrong. Opinions, even from the most learned and experienced people can be in error. Opinions, even from the greenest and inexperienced neophyte can be game changing.

AND... Don't believe anything you read on the internet....

[QUOTE=Neil Miller;1468465]













And as for well educated Machinists, they might very well be well educated, but what in? Not in edges, etc growing back, or they would be able to explain it, wouldn't they?! Machine shops and metal works are a rich source of myths about metal, and that is a fact, not a myth! Ask Mike Blue - he has debunked much of this tiresome old 'folklore' in his posts here.]
Neil,I spent a yr in Holland working at phillips with Dutch Machinists that all had decades of experiance.
Do not have to ask Mike Blue Anything,he is a master of what he do's without question.
But I will ask you,what is your educational Backround in metal working and the makeup of differant metels (other than what you have read about)

Pixelfixed, I did a little in grammar school, a bit in the 6th Form, a bit in a years foundation course, a bit in a two year diploma course - none of which were metal specific - and a year in a silver-smithing course.

Not a lot I know, but with the help of innumerable books on the subject (by respected authors, not quacks) and the many iron and steel workers here like Mike Blue, along with serving time in machine shops like the Salisbury Forge and Thorn Lighting (you would not have heard of them) I have reached a stage where I will not need any more unless I take up forging myself.

I have had a rich and varied job history, working on building houses, road and footpath construction, hotels and bars - more than I can remember, but what sticks out is the cussedness and crass stupidity of some of the older workers - the elite, you could call them. I never took any of their fairy-tales in, though.

Regards,
Neil

@Neil Miller

Sticklers as were are for accuracy in resting steel an other things...

't'was Chico. Groucho, by the way, never let ANYTHING rest.

Sanity Clause: http://youtu.be/KS2khYJZKwA

Dovo is the only company , i know of, that advises rest for razors.
The others below advise stropping before & after.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...ng-basics.html

Than we Differ neil.I have always gone by the experiance of others that I respect.
I worked with a very old man a few yrs back building a natural rock wall,I worked for free just to learn,no morter,no supports,all free standing.
He was Crass,he was not very bright,he had no formal education,but he had 60 yrs experiance in the art of Rock walls.
the above has nothing to do with metals,razors etc,but when an old Machinist with decades under his belt tells me something,(call me stupid) I believe it.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Than we Differ neil.I have always gone by the experiance of others that I respect.
I worked with a very old man a few yrs back building a natural rock wall,I worked for free just to learn,no morter,no supports,all free standing.
He was Crass,he was not very bright,he had no formal education,but he had 60 yrs experiance in the art of Rock walls.
the above has nothing to do with metals,razors etc,but when an old Machinist with decades under his belt tells me something,(call me stupid) I believe it.

We are evidently talking about different things.

I too respect a well honed craftsman who is exceptionally good at his job.

But say he was a crass dry-stone waller - I wouldn't listen to his theories about talking stones, stone spirits, kobolds and elves any more than you would - because doing his job well is one thing and folklore is another.

I hope you finally get the point.

Neil

Now I have to go - I am a junior in a machinists shop and they have asked me to go and get a spare bubble for the spirit level and a packet of elbow grease. I don't know, these old duffers'll lose anything...

Originally Posted by MisterMoo

@Neil Miller

Sticklers as were are for accuracy in resting steel an other things...

't'was Chico. Groucho, by the way, never let ANYTHING rest.

Sanity Clause: http://youtu.be/KS2khYJZKwA

I stand corrected, Sir! Thanks.

Zeppo only appeared in the first films, then eventually left. And there was another - Gummo, who did not enter film making at all.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Dovo is the only company , i know of, that advises rest for razors.
The others below advise stropping before & after.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...ng-basics.html

On this note, I recently was fortunate enough to acquire a really pristine Nowill razor. Rolled-up in the box was this pamphlet from 1913. Advise from J. Nowill and Sons!