Thread: Basic Stropping query

Just like honing with the spine leading, any weight should be on the spine not the edge when stropping.

The secondary strop, be it linen, cotton or whatever, helps realign the edge and the leather burnishes the edge from my understanding. There was a post on here showing that strop materials are to some extent a bit abrasive with leather being the least. There were photos to support that in the post.

You are off to a good start if you are maintaining the edge from your stropping.

Bob

If you’re 10-15 shaves in and aren’t seeing any issues it sounds to me like your stropping technique is fairly sound.

I agree you are doing well if you have stropped that much and don't notice a decrease in the keenness of your edge. I use both sides of the leather. Normally 20 on the suede side and 40-60 on the smooth side before shave then 10-20 on suede side after. Fabric is usually used to freshen up an edge but be careful with it you need.very little pressure on fabric, moreso with flax than cotton. Flax can be very aggressive.

As said before, if your technique is working for you, then there isn't any need to change it. It depends on the strop in question, but some vintage pieces were sold with backside being used to "sharpen" and the front side used to "finish." Sounds like you are using your strop in this way. If this working, and you wanted to make a mild change, you might try just stropping on the front side for a spell, and once the edge starts falling off, to "refresh" things on the backside before returning to the front side. In this way, maybe 40-60 laps on the front side for day-to-day shaving, followed by an occasional 15-20 laps on the backside when the edge starts to fall off, followed by 40-60 laps on the front side, and if this brings things back, a return to the day-to-day routine as before.