Thread: Linen stropping effect on honing intervals

Gentlemen,

I use only leather on the Kanayama followed by palm stropping. This seems to put a sweeter edge on my blades. The linen didn't seem to do much for me, and I no longer have the Kanayama model with the suede component.

Also, since I keep my stropping length at about seven to eight inches, rather than the entire length of the strop, my number count is about 75 strokes. About 50 palm strokes add the final touch to my stropping. I must say, I do enjoy stropping; it's relaxing. This keeps my blades in good shape for a while.

When the blades need refreshing, I do a few strokes on linen with CrO, followed by the standard set of strokes on leather and palm. Finally, if the blades need it, then I go to the hones.

On my Mastro Livi strop he uses chromium oxide on linen and it is a wonderful combination for restoring or refreshing an edge. Couple it with the skin side of the strop gives an amazing edge.

Originally Posted by jkatzman

On my Mastro Livi strop he uses chromium oxide on linen and it is a wonderful combination for restoring or refreshing an edge. Couple it with the skin side of the strop gives an amazing edge.

The leather Livi uses on his strops is something to be seen. I don't think I've ever seen leather with such a buttery feel to it ever. Often times I'll use linen and then the kanayama suede and then the leather livi and the result would make Obie cry and his face would say "no more Hollywood for me it's Broadway all the way".

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The leather Livi uses on his strops is something to be seen. I don't think I've ever seen leather with such a buttery feel to it ever. Often times I'll use linen and then the kanayama suede and then the leather livi and the result would make Obie cry and his face would say "no more Hollywood for me it's Broadway all the way".

Spendur, actually I have a Mastro Livi strop on order and am looking forward to using it.

Originally Posted by Obie

Gentlemen,

I use only leather on the Kanayama followed by palm stropping. This seems to put a sweeter edge on my blades. The linen didn't seem to do much for me, and I no longer have the Kanayama model with the suede component.

Also, since I keep my stropping length at about seven to eight inches, rather than the entire length of the strop, my number count is about 75 strokes. About 50 palm strokes add the final touch to my stropping. I must say, I do enjoy stropping; it's relaxing. This keeps my blades in good shape for a while.

When the blades need refreshing, I do a few strokes on linen with CrO, followed by the standard set of strokes on leather and palm. Finally, if the blades need it, then I go to the hones.

I've tried the palm stropping, much easier than I thought, but I wasn't doing that many on the palm, only around 10-15 laps. Going to try that again and increase the amount.

The one area I found the palm stropping to make a real difference was with my Mongoose SE. I'd take a brand new Feather Pro blade, and strop it on the heel of my palm and I noticed it markedly reduced the harshness of the new blade.

Something to try again, and pay more attention...always interesting stuff to learn and experiment with.

Originally Posted by Phrank

I've tried the palm stropping, much easier than I thought, but I wasn't doing that many on the palm, only around 10-15 laps. Going to try that again and increase the amount.

The one area I found the palm stropping to make a real difference was with my Mongoose SE. I'd take a brand new Feather Pro blade, and strop it on the heel of my palm and I noticed it markedly reduced the harshness of the new blade.

Something to try again, and pay more attention...always interesting stuff to learn and experiment with.

Actually, I do enjoy stropping immensely. It relaxes me. That's why I run up high numbers on strokes. Also, as I noted earlier, I use a short stropping space, thus the reason for the higher number of strokes.

By the way, I have never tried stropping the Feather Pro on my palm. I will try it the next time I shave with my ATT SE2.

I too find stropping immensely relaxing, I love using Neil Miller linen for 50 or so laps then 80 or so on whatever leather I choose on the day. I find linen will increase the time a razor from needing to be refreshed though I won't use linen every time on a particular razor, some times I'll do 50 latigo then 50 shell. Smooooth!

I also palm strop DE blades for 20 or so times before each use.

Originally Posted by Phrank

I've tried the palm stropping, much easier than I thought, but I wasn't doing that many on the palm, only around 10-15 laps. Going to try that again and increase the amount.

The one area I found the palm stropping to make a real difference was with my Mongoose SE. I'd take a brand new Feather Pro blade, and strop it on the heel of my palm and I noticed it markedly reduced the harshness of the new blade.

Something to try again, and pay more attention...always interesting stuff to learn and experiment with.

I fully agree and too noted that - similarly to your observation with the Mongoose - palm stropping the Feather AC DX tames the initial harshness of Feather Professional and Professional Super blades.


B.


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You shouldn't need more then 20 palm laps. If you watch Mastro Livi, he uses his loom strop then the palm for a touch up. The palm stropping also works very well between passes. Give it 5-10 palm laps and then re-lather. As for the loom strop, I was skeptical it was that much better for the cost, but I am a believer now. It will really puts an edge on a razor and the leather or skin side smooths out the blade so you get a really comfortable shave. Worth every penny. Considering what I paid for the Suehiro 20k and other stones, the Mastro Livi loom is a bargain.

Originally Posted by jkatzman

You shouldn't need more then 20 palm laps. If you watch Mastro Livi, he uses his loom strop then the palm for a touch up. The palm stropping also works very well between passes. Give it 5-10 palm laps and then re-lather.

I agree and am actually on the low range of that with about 5 palm laps for a new Feather AC blade, 5 before a shave with a classic straight and about 3 between passes.
That is after stropping the straight on a Livi loom strop.

But like many aspects of straight shaving, this is a work in progress and may evolve over time, but since I've started using the Livi strop my number of laps has drastically reduced as I found that I can achieve the desired results with much less and there is no tangible advantage in excessive numbers of laps.


B


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