Thread: I

We've been arguing this since the site opened. Some think fabric is indispensable and some think it is unnecessary and some are inbetween.

You have to try it yourself and see if it makes a difference. If you decide it does Linen is the classic material though you can try all sorts of other things like newspaper and canvas and jeans and even your skin.

I’ve been here a long time and I’m still learning! It’s a lot of fun to have an “ah-hah” moment.

Originally Posted by lightcs1776

I appreciate all the detailed comments. I clearly have more to learn about SRs than I realized.

Originally Posted by Gasman

I find linen to be important. Do you really need it? Probably not, if you don't have one. But it will help you and your blades to stay cutting much longer. As Marty explained, its the cleaning of the edge that it does and that keeps the bad stuff off your leather. Poly strapping is cheap if you don't want to buy something already made.

Originally Posted by alex1921

I can share what I have seen using a metallurgical scope.
When I come off the hones and for some reason the edge has small tiny false edge, not the whole edge just a small segment, or at 1000x I see teeth on the edge then comparing leather vs linen you can clearly see the difference.
Leather will take care of tiny teeth but an aggressive linen will actually fix small false edges. It has quite the impact on the edge.
Adding to the drying and cleaning action of linen, I always do few passes on linen after each shave.

I too fall in the camp that thinks linen is important. Starting last year to finally use the flax linen side of the strops I already owned (40 strokes or so after every shave) made a *huge* difference for me. The Filarmonica razor I shaved with yesterday morning hasn't been honed since September of last year. I used to read all the time here about people going months without honing with stropping only, and could never figure out what I was doing wrong that I couldn't repeat that. I started actually using my flax linen strops, and that was the key for me, after years.

When I touch up an edge on the hone now, it's not because the razor is pulling or has gotten dull, it's because the razor is still sharp but has gotten harsh. Stropping can only do so much, for so long. A quick touch-up on a hone every several months will sweeten a rough edge.

A good flax linen stop is cheaper than any synthetic or natural hone, and not much more than the cost of sending a razor out to be re-honed by a competent honemeister. If I were on a budget, I would buy a cheap vintage razor made with fine steel and love, get it honed by a proven honemeister, and then keep it just-off-the-hone fresh with a good flax linen strop.

YMMV, but it really made a big difference for me.