Thread: Why do so many newbies cut or nick their strop?

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

I've nicked my strop three times in a year of shaving; but two of those are in the last week!

Practice, practice, practice. Keep working it and you can get to 2 nicks in a month, and after a while, a full severing - stropectomy.

Sigh.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Yes, newbies need to develop muscle memory to get it right...or do they? I say you need to pay attention to what you are doing all the time and slow down. Why do I say this? I've been at this for several years now and JUST recently got my replacement leather in for my strop...I didn't nick my strop, I fillet'd a nice sized quarter out of mine about half the way thru the leather.

My realization was one of shock as the Gong razor I was stropping glided thru the leather so smoothly it spooked me...I'm thankful it's just a replacement SRP leather instead of stitches or worse.

Moral of the story: Slow down and pay attention, loose your train of thought and someone or thing is going to get hurt.

True words

Originally Posted by Wintchase

Drunk stropping... Bad idea...

SADS = Shavers Against Drunk Stropping. Remember, friends don't let friends drop strunk.

One of the reasons I've come to prefer thumb notches is they make the blade easier to flip.
--Shoulderless grinds because there's nothing to hang up the stropping stroke toward the heel.
--6/8s because they ride the strop a little more steaily than narrower blades.

Combine a thumb notch with a shoulderless grind on a 6/8 and you've got ergonomic stropping perfection--in my opinion. That's the only configuration of blade I'll add to my collection any more.

You would be surprised how it only takes 1mm of a slip, or not fully arresting the momentum from the previous draw, to VERY EASILY nick a strop given the insane sharpness of a properly honed straight razor. If you dont have any experience with an incredibly thinly ground and sharpened blade, I can see how you might be overly confident, but seriously, a well sharpened edge is like a laser beam.

Stropping is a combination of mind/eye/hand coordination - also total concentration. Turn the music off and focus on the "task at hand". Wrap your little finer and ring finger around the scales to help flip the blade.
Count like a musician. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. Start slowly. Speed doesn't do anything for sharpness.

JERRY
_____

I've never nicked a real strop... which means I will soon since I typed that. But I practiced with a belt and butter knife for a couple weeks when I was starting out, and that belt would have been cut in half about 40-50 times. I think I used a straight on the belt before going to a real strop, too. But yeah, go slow when doing the flip over thing. I still dont strop really fast. I dont think this will be a problem, unless someone decides to invent an "Extreme straight shaving" competition.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Was alcohol involved

It's hard to say; I'm not sure I ever actually get to zero percent...

Originally Posted by Wintchase

Drunk stropping... Bad idea...

Drunk SHAVING... WORSE idea...

99% of cuts are caused from the first moment you lay the blade on the strop,thats why most are on the very bottom.
Lay the blade down, than think a moment,going up now,FLIP. think a moment,going down now,flip. think a moment.
In a matter of days,no thinking is needed anymore.

Originally Posted by Wintchase

Drunk stropping... Bad idea...

Friends don't let friends strop drunk.