Thread: stropping beginner

Yes. If it is in nice shape it will be a good shaver. The key to a great edge is all about getting the apex perfectly formed. It is best done with a 1K hone and a loupe.
https://straightrazorpalace.com/honi...ggestions.html
This is a very good thread with a lot of nice pictures. Gssixgun also has some very good videos on YouTube.
It is very difficult to learn to hone and shave at the same time. I’m willing to bet you could get a member here to hone it for you for the cost of postage. If you have someone else hone it and then learn to shave it typically shortens the learning curve on both skills.

i know there's a place in Nottingham here in the UK i can send to..
but don't know anywhere in the Midlands i could go to and watch

My UK geography is nil. You could however pm markbignosekelly and discuss it with him.

What are you doing to judge the edge is worse after stropping?

Shave testing?

I run it across my thumb and it didn't cut skin which it did before stropping

Sounds like you are trying to learn how to hone a straight razor, stropping and shaving all at the same time. Generally not a great idea but doable with much frustration involved.

If you have never shaved with a straight razor before you will have no idea of what a good edge feels like to shave with never mind what one looks like under magnification while honing. Really no point of reference for anything.

I'd suggest you send your razor to a reputable honer in the UK. Once you receive your shave ready razor back simply shave with it without stropping it first. You can also examine the edge under a loupe to see what a shave ready edge looks like. That will give you a reference to what you should be looking to achieve while honing and what a shave ready edge should feel like while shaving.

You could then strop the razor before your second shave and if the blade feels duller than the first shave without stropping you will know your stropping is not good enough. Unfortunately if the stropping is bad enough you may have to send the razor back out to be honed again.

There are so many components to getting a good shave with a straight razor that it is not as simple as it seems. for one, honing a razor is not like sharpening a knife. A razor requires a whole other level of sharpness than a knife and the edge on a razor is far more delicate that a knife's edge. It takes a fair amount of time, practice and frustration to be able to produce a shave ready edge. To eliminate that it is generally recommended to have a razor professionally hone in the beginning and concentrate on learning proper stropping to maintain the edge while you learn to get a proper shave with a straight razor. Just eliminating as many variables as possible in the beginning. With a good edge and proper stropping give yourself about 3 months to start getting good comfortable shaves with a straight razor. Then I'd tackle learning to hone.

I say that having gone the route of learning to hone while learning to shave with a straight razor. It was pretty frustrating at the beginning.

Bob

Originally Posted by earcutter

Stropping took me some time to master. And even now I don’t know if “master” is the right term. Fast, slow? Hard, soft. Tight, loose. It sounds like you are doing everything right to me, but clearly you aren’t getting the desired results.

So why not start by eliminating variables. Throw your strop onto a table. That’ll guarantee the flat for you. Then practice going slow and light. See how that works for you. Change only one thing at a time until you have it figured, then hang the strop back up and figure that part out last. Treat it like a scientist would.

Ultimately, fast and super light on a semi-taught strop works for me.

Hang in there.

David excellent suggestions. Looking back, I admit that it took me more than a year to adequately learn the technical aspects required to properly strop a razor. You gave great encouragement. I still consider myself to be a beginner.

Thanks for all the information I intend to get professionally honed and take it from there

Originally Posted by R444LFE

Thanks for all the information I intend to get professionally honed and take it from there

Good luck with the process and let us know how you are making out.

Bob

Will do thanks