Thread: The Leather versus Linen Controversy ; Poll

....................

Originally Posted by ShavedZombie

For me, I need both... In fact, my full rotation is SRD Felt, TM Linen, SRD Nylon, TM nylon, TM latigo, SRD Bridle, TM Horsehide, SRD Premium I.

[QUOTE=ShavedZombie;570435]For me, I need both... In fact, my full rotation is SRD Felt, TM Linen, SRD Nylon, TM nylon, TM latigo, SRD Bridle, TM Horsehide, SRD Premium I.
QUOTE]

Is shaving part of your routine, or just stropping? I dont think my arm could handle that many stropping laps, atleast it wouldnt be of much use to shave with following that.

I always strop after a shave, almost never before. The cotton serves I think to completely dry the edge before taking it to the horsehide, and I usually do about 25/100, but that's not set in stone. I vary it depending on the steel and how the shave felt. Because I strop after a shave I have never NOT used the cotton.
Every once in a while when I get bored I'll go through all my razors and do 100+ on newspaper, I find this does "peak" the edge noticeably but I don't do it very often.
A few months back I would strop on cotton between hones when starting a bevel from scratch, if nothing else than to see what happened. It did reveal trouble spots very clearly. But it became unnecessary as my technique improved.

Hello, everyone:

Somehow something is amiss in my shaving ritual if I forgo the linen and opt for the leather only. It feels unnatural.

Regards,
Obie

After honing the tm linen works a treat this realy makes my razors split hairs. TM cotton does'nt work as well. I have compared them several times. I follow with mainly horshide somtimes both litigo then horshide. Every day strop is 20 linen followed by 20 litigo 20 horshide or just 40 horshide. The TM linen is realy good for me.

I've tried several combinations before i found the one that suits for me. Simply i just do 25-30 on linen and 30-40 on leather before shave. Never after.I just wipe the blade with a towel after each shave.
I have 7 razors on rotation and with this method i can go on about 3-4 months before getting to barber hone.
This works for me. I do not want to make it too complicated.
I think the old time barbers didn't use linen just because it was handy and easy like a walk in a park to take the hone of the pocket and give it few passes every now and then. They didn't use electric tapes nor didn't care about the hone wear as razors were just mass production. Something like cheap ball point pens today.

I didn't know there was a controversy. Or at least for me there isn't. It's always 20 passes on the Linen and 60 on the leather before shaving. To me the cloth has a very slight abrasive effect.

By the way back in the old days when I used to go to the barber as a kid I never saw any barber strop on fabric before using a straight. It was always leather only. Maybe they used the fabric at the start of the day, I don't know.

I use both linen (or more precisely - denim from old jeans) followed by leather.

Lately I've done my pre-shave stropping the night before. It's relaxing and I might spend more time stropping.

My post shave strop has been shorter - more of a final edge cleaning and tidying.

I have found that more stropping is better than less - it's also how I get to HHT sharp.

I haven't been counting the strokes lately - but definitely do more for the pre-shave stropping.

All the best,
Michael.

its interesting after obtaining a few strops now how different the linen is them. It shouldn't be much of a surprise since TM and SRP both offer various types.

I like the Illinois 827 linen the best followed by the Hess Milk Hair ones Chris had for sale not too long ago.

I dont keep count, but probably around 20 linen and 30-40 leather before a shave

After the shave I like using TM linen for about 10 passes followed by the leather for 10. This is used to properly dry off the blade and all those little microscopic places on the edge.

I really have no idea if this helps the edge, but I like it and it works for me which is the most important thing. Also, I think a strop doesn't look whole with only leather.

Yes, linen is an essential part of my routine.

I've found a noticeable difference in keeness when linen is excluded altogether, and it's not for the better. I don't own a microscope or loupe so I can't back it up with facts, but my face tells me all I need to know. So linen is a daily shaving routine for me, usually in the neighbourhood of 40 laps before hitting the leather.

Best regards,

Ryan

(Woo hoo.... 500th post!)