Thread: Hand-Hold Preference?

I have vintage 2 1/2 pro barber strops, SRD 3", HandAmerican, and Tony Miller. I use all of them on a rotating basis depending on which one calls to me just as with my razors. I like my strop to be slightly below my navel so at my height hooking onto a doorknob is ideal. I pull the strop tight. The idea of leaving more slack than the natural flex, whatever it is, of a tight strop seems to me to be potentially hazardous to the edge.

Stropping expert AFDavis11 posted this hand hold here and I have adopted that for my own. The main thing I focus on is not putting a slight twist in the strop when I pull. Here is another interesting thread on stropping that AFD posted. Alan has said that stropping may be more important than honing so it is worth focusing on developing the skill as well as possible.

Originally Posted by Stubear

You can overstrop if you are using abrasive pastes however, so dont be heavy handed with those! If you have a strop with CrOx or diamond spray you can actully dull the edge with too many strokes.

Fortunately, I have yet to even make a Pasting Strop... I only have the one Cotton and Red Latigo TM, so no pastes as I use both sides for my tri-weekly shaves.. I am, however, getting a TM Horsehide and Linen at some point soon in the future, at which point my old Cotton (on the latigo) will become a paster, just for touchups until I buy a 4 sided Pasting Paddle for honing (A friend of mine uses one, he claims they work just as well as any hone stone, and he'll teach me how to not botch it up, so I'm inclined to go that route), all of that was to say, thank you for the heads up on the Pasting Strop

Originally Posted by Stubear

When I strop I probably get a few millimetres of sag and thats about it. You dont need to put loads of pressure on the blade either, about 150% of the weight of the blade is all you need. So basically, put 150% of the weight of the razor on the strop and then add tension to make sure you have no more than 2-3mm of sag, and thats how much tension you need in the strop!

Alright, well I always pull it REALLY tight, but I guess I can slack of a little -so my shoulder stops cramping >.< - Thank you very much


And thank you, Jimmy, I'll check out those links

Edit: The AFDavis11 hold you linked, I've seen that, that is how I hold -well, held, I've quit using it as I prefer handles- my handle-less TM practice strop

Originally Posted by ShavedZombie

Also, is it possible to pull a strop TOO tight? Because I watched a video posted in the Stropping Wiki, and it showed the strop held with enough slack that it deflected at the spine

YouTube - Stropping

So, can I be pulling my strop too tight, or does that not really matter... Like, can a strop be too loose, but once it's tightened to a certain point, any tighter doesn't make a difference, just looser makes it worse...

Thanks