Thread: Mastro Livi in his shop video

Originally Posted by razorguy

Sweat is not good for carbon steel for sure, but skin oils or grease may certainly play a positive role on the edge.

Not to argue a fine point, but the SWEAT that your palms put out is 99% Water and 1% Salt not something that is good for steel, IE; stropping on the palm and then leaving it there is not good...


The OIL that you are perhaps referring to

Oil glands, or sebaceous glands, are found in the dermis layer, and are located all over the body except on the palms and soles. The glands are made of secrete sebum (mix of fats and proteins, and fragments of dead fat producing cells) that is used to prevent the skin or hair from drying. . Secrete sebum is forced out when the arrector pili muscles squeeze the sebaceous glands.
A branched type of acinar gland, the sebaceous glands exist in humans throughout the skin except in the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Sebaceous glands can usually be found in hair-covered areas, where they are connected to hair follicles. The glands deposit sebum on the hairs, and bring it to the skin surface along the hair shaft. The structure consisting of hair, hair follicle


Why do I even know this ????

Because if you handle a Sword or a Gun with your sweaty paws you will get a very unhappy owner, unless they know you are going to touch it and can wipe it off again with an oily rag of some sort...

So how is it that your hand can be a good strop with it being very not flat. and I very much agree(with Glen) having had a class in metallurgy. Clean and dry steel is happy steel.

And i have also been sitting at my desk at work for far to long. My spelling is now suffering.

His hands give 'hanging strop' a whole new meaning.

Hand stropping? Where's the wiki on this? Site please

Seriously, I just tried it. It isn't easy with hot sweaty hands. Pretty sticky. Wonder what the SRP consensus on laps would be.

Oh yeah. Bout what Glen said about the guns, leaving your sweaties all over someone's beloved is worse than touching his wife.

Before storing, I always gently dry my razor with a towel without touching the edge and then finger dab mineral oil all on the blade. I highly recommend this practice.

Originally Posted by Badgister

Before storing, I always gently dry my razor with a towel without touching the edge and then finger dab mineral oil all on the blade. I highly recommend this practice.

So, how many laps??? Where's your wiki? I'm not unwilling to give it a shot(I did already), just a little more info please, friend.

Kind Regards(),

Just finished. Thank you for sharing.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Not to argue a fine point, but the SWEAT that your palms put out is 99% Water and 1% Salt not something that is good for steel, IE; stropping on the palm and then leaving it there is not good...

Of course salt is not good for steel, even though - at least in my case - I always wash my hands with soap before shaving and this certainly removes any salt or sweat from my hands. The fact however remains that sweat certainly is not good for steel.
However, there is also another fact remaining: hand palm stropping is very effective and it seems to give a better performing edge, or at least this is what I get.
To clear what I usually do better, I hand palm strop my razor before each pass then at the end of shaving, I clean the razor with water and wipe the blade with a towel without touching the edge. I also use toilet paper to remove any soap from the blade, once again, without touching the edge. After that I do another palm strop and then use a loom strop in order to make sure any water on the edge is completely removed.

Wow, thanks for all the replies guys! As I prefer to strop after the shave, I think I'll stick with the felt & leather strops and avoid any sweat-induced rust stains.

PS. Huge apology for hijacking the thread from the OP. Maybe a mod could split the thread in two accordingly?

Cheers.

Originally Posted by Pi3

PS. Huge apology for hijacking the thread from the OP. Maybe a mod could split the thread in two accordingly?

I'm not a Mod, but I looked up another Livi video thread and the topic took a quick hand stropping turn, so I'll venture you're safe.