Thread: pro stropping style

Originally Posted by razorguy

By reading all of your comment, which I respect and I believe to be correct, it calls to my mind a simple question: what is stropping for?
And why there are so many different strops around? Stripe, paddle, loom and you mention it. Leather would not certainly remove steel from the blade (saved when you apply chromium oxide on it or other pastes) but however has the capability of "shaping" the edge, which is very thin and weaker than the spine.

I've been thinking for a while about the often asked questions, and came up with a 'Top Ten'. I posed the question in the Mentor area about writing some easy to read, succinct articles on these oft asked questions. One was titled 'Do I need to Buy a Strop?' I wrote it and posted it for comment. Gugi wrote what is below (a quote from the reply) and I think it says it all, really. It makes very good logical sense to me; and previous to this I really was a little unclear myself; I simply knew it worked.

I think it's best to state clearly what the stop does because that also explains why it is so important. It is not a subject of opinion, and has been scientifically proven since the 1930s that the strop's main role is to maintain the edge free of oxidation. That's what dulls the edge, rather than mechanical deformation or 'misalignment of teeth'.
Everybody knows how fast the high-carbon steel of razors oxidizes (including the so called stainless steel razors), and if you don't strop for a few shaves the edge is basically rusted through.