Thread: Why an "X"?

Why should the stropping motion be in an "X"? Intuitively, I think going back and forth along the same diagonal would be quicker and more natural. Does it maintain uniform wear on the strop, or is there another reason?

Thanks,

Scott Chapin

When you strop on a narrow strop you have to do an X stroke to strop the entire edge.
For me even on 3" wide strop the stropping motion comes as a slight X.

I guess I don't see it. If I pull from upper let to lower right, roll the blade and push from lower right to upper left, the entire length of each side gets stropped. It just eliminates having to slide the blade from one side to the other at the end of each stroke.

As long as the entire edge is getting stropped it shouldn't matter (I'm assuming that you're talking about doing half an x-stroke, flipping the blade, and then going back in the same line, without moving the blade up to start at the heel again)

I think the main reason that folks do the x is that it's a more comfortable arm motion (for most of us-YMMV and all that) to draw the blade towards the body, rather than pushing up away from the body. I might be wrong, but it seems that you can also add more pressure than necessary if you're doing a pushing motion rather than a pulling motion.

Originally Posted by ScottChapin

I guess I don't see it. If I pull from upper let to lower right, roll the blade and push from lower right to upper left, the entire length of each side gets stropped. It just eliminates having to slide the blade from onside to the other at the end of each stroke.

This will be the case for a 3" strop, not going to work this way for a 2" or 2.5" strop, you will not have the entire edge on the strop.

Originally Posted by ScottChapin

Why should the stropping motion be in an "X"? Intuitively, I think going back and forth along the same diagonal would be quicker and more natural. Does it maintain uniform wear on the strop, or is there another reason?

Thanks,

Scott Chapin

If your razor is perfectly true at spine & edge & your strop wide enough. No problemo doing what you describe.

If you have a razor with a warp or a smiling style blade you will not contact the whole edge without some modification to your stroke. The X gives you full contact on such blades even on a 1.5" strop

Because it is harder to learn, and much more difficult to master, and we all enjoy laughing behind the new guy's backs


Just Kidding

Like OZ just said, in a perfect world, with a perfect strop, and a dead straight razor, and you doing a perfect stropping stroke, every time, you can go straight up and down... or pretty much any pattern, so far I haven't found that perfect situation

Originally Posted by mainaman

This will be the case for a 3" strop, not going to work this way for a 2" or 2.5" strop, you will not have the entire edge on the strop.

Why not? You'd just be going heel to tip in one stroke and tip to heel in the opposite stroke. Maybe that's the issue. You shouldn't perhaps start at the tip and finish at the heel. Maybe that apples to much pressure to the tip.

It just seems like a figure eight motion is awkward and inefficient.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

The X gives you full contact on such blades even on a 1.5" strop

Why wouldn't back and forth on a slant give full contact?

most people do a x either on the hone or the strop because it works.no hone is perfectly flat and even if it was your razors bevel isnt either. same gos with the strop. by doing a x you hedge your bets