Thread: Hand(Palm) Stropping

I have been practicing stropping on my palm like Livi does in his various videos.

I have gotten pretty good at it, i think.

My question... Would this work in a pinch when traveling? I am heading out of town for 4 nights and would like to pack the minimum.

btw, all hand stropping will be done sober.

I don't know if it would but why not try it at home before you leave for your trip ? If you don't find the results up to your expectations you can wipe the lather off of the blade and go to your strop.

You can also use the inside of your fore arm if it isn't hairy. Don't want to knock or cut the strop though!

Hands, Jeans, Newspaper, Brownpaper bags (grocery bags) all can work for strops...

For all newbies reading this thread: No. You can't use your hands - you need a strop. No. You shouldn't do it even if you're extra careful. No. Not even if you strop very slowly and very carefully. Simply say no to handstropping. Consider yourself warned.

You could just do a material strop (which can be rolled tight) with thong and no handle or use those materials Glen suggested. Or carry a shavette with few extra blades. Even if Livi does it, I don't consider it a wise practice.

Hand stropping is in fact a traditional barber's trick... what I have read of, though, is about the back of the hand over the union of the thumb and the index finger... Livi uses the edge of the palm, which I think both seems more feasibly effective, and more likely to cut you to ribbons.


One way or another, it sure does look cool...

I just sharpened all of my hunting knives today, and with no strop where I was doing the sharpening, I palm stropped all of them. I was very pleased with the results.
In a bind, I'd have no problem with palm stropping a razor.

Well heck. Strop on this .............

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

I have been practicing stropping on my palm like Livi does in his various videos.

I have gotten pretty good at it, i think.

My question... Would this work in a pinch when traveling? I am heading out of town for 4 nights and would like to pack the minimum.

btw, all hand stropping will be done sober.

Where are these Livi videos to be found? I couldn't find any on YouTube.

Originally Posted by Wayne1963

Where are these Livi videos to be found? I couldn't find any on YouTube.

Here you can find a video I made about Mastro Livi art:

At minute 1:05:10 Mastro Livi talks about hand palm stropping.

If you are looking for more Mastro Livi videos, you can take a look at my Youtube channel, where I created a play list with all the ones I found on YouTube: StraightRazorChannel - YouTube

Enjoy!