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Why do you do what you do with your straights?

NurseDave

NurseDave

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So now that Chris is getting me to shave with a true straight like a man, I need to figure out what stropping is all about. I’ve seen many videos on how to, but they never explain why they strop on say the fabric side and then the leather, or why x number of times.

My first question is why strop before AND after a shave. I understand stropping after not only helps reestablish the edge, but also ensures the edge is dry. But then why restrop the next day before using?

What is the purpose of a cloth strop? Is it important to use the rough then smooth side of the leather? How do you determine how many laps to make? Can you over strop?
 
Great questions Dave, I'll attempt to answer as best I can from my experience.

So, as you pointed out, stropping post shave helps clean the edge of any residue that might be left following the shave and will dry the edge off and help prevent any possible oxidation. As well, anytime you strop, it's a sharpening tool, so you're in essence doing a very gentle post shave re-fresh on the edge. Stropping prior to the shave further refines the edge prior to your shave.

IRT using fabric (cotton, linen, irish linen, nylon, etc...) prior to the leather, this will, again, clean the edge off of anything that might have accumulated from the last time you used it. Doing this prior to the leather can help knock out any possible burrs so the leather is more effective at refining the edge. In my experience, the leather will also help make the edge a bit more smooth, or at least knock some of the harshness that might be present in the edge.

I personally do not use the rough side of the leather, just the smooth. My normal stropping routine is as such:

Pre-shave:
5-15 laps on turkish linen (cotton)
20-25 laps on irish linen (firehose)
40-60 laps on Kanayama leather strop

Post-shave:
12-25 laps on irish linen (firehose)
20-40 laps on Leather

Generally, I do many more laps pre-shave than post, as the post is mainly to clean off the bevel and somewhat get the edge back to a baseline of keenness. The edge will be further refined prior to my next shave with that razor through my pre-shave routine.

As far as over-stropping goes, you can't really harm an edge in my experience from stropping too much if every lap is done correctly. However, the more laps you do, the greater the likelihood that you do a poor stroke and roll the edge or nick your strop as your arm gets tired. I try to keep the lap count pre-shave under 80, but there are times when I've gone as many as 200 laps on leather. This is primarily after I've finished giving a razor a refresh on the stones. When I do this, I'm very much concentrating on form over speed, remaining very cognizant of whether my arm is getting tired or not.
 
All great questions I can not answer. But Josh did a good job
 
One thing that I neglected to mention in the above post. I don't have any "scientific", or even empirical evidence that stropping on leather and not just linen improves the edge; or that stropping any more than 20-30 laps further refines the edge. But, I believe that it does. Whether that is because I want it to or it actually does, for me it doesn't matter. AFAIAC, as long as the stropping strokes are correct, it's a net positive on the blade, both psychosematically and actually.
 
Ok I will chime in. On the molecular level the linen or fabric not only cleans debris , dries, and actually aligns the scratch pattern into a linear fashion ( can be seen in a high powered loupe ). the leather actually burnishes or polishes the edge and actually heats the blade slightly to again align the scratch patterns for a smooth edge. My regiment is 50 leather pre-shave and 15 linen and 50 leather

Good Stuff
 
Hmm, I may need to increase my stropping game. I only have the leather poor mans strop from WD and only do 20 laps pre and 20 laps post.
 
Quijote said:
Hmm, I may need to increase my stropping game. I only have the leather poor mans strop from WD and only do 20 laps pre and 20 laps post.
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Nope not necessary at this point and time. I'm sure if you haven't already nicked the poorman's strop you will. Be a shame to do that to a better (insert higher priced possibly) strop. Larry's poorman's is a great learning tool! It's really not a bad strop.
 
+1 to Craigs post. It's worth making your mistakes on an inexpensive strop, and the Poor Man's is perfectly serviceable for now. I thought my stropping mistakes were behind me until I put a very deep nick in my Tony Miller Notovan. I still haven't summoned the courage to try to fix it for fear of making it worse, but I can't use it in it's current state either.
 
Eric and Craig both are 100% correct. The Poor Man's strop will be perfect for you for quite some time. I was well beyond 100 shaves when I put a nasty cut in my velvet horsehide strop. That's how I taught myself that it's not about the speed but about the stropping technique. Plus it saves you on strop costs... ?
 
Thank you for all the feedback guys.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I will. Say you do 20 laps when you’re done shaving and then 40 laps before you shave, why would this be different than doing 60 laps when you finish, put the razor away and then shave the next day without doing anything else? I’m curious if the double stropping is more tradition or physically for the blade there’s a reason.
 
I've always thought that the stropping after the shave was more of a cleaning/drying process.

The stropping before the shave is to remove any oxidation that occurred and a tuning up of the edge so to speak. How much would an edge oxidize in a 24 hour period, I have no idea. I know I remember the days of straight razors in the barbershops when I was a youngun, and they always stropped before and after the use of their razors.
 
clyde72 said:
I've always thought that the stropping after the shave was more of a cleaning/drying process.

The stropping before the shave is to remove any oxidation that occurred and a tuning up of the edge so to speak. How much would an edge oxidize in a 24 hour period, I have no idea. I know I remember the days of straight razors in the barbershops when I was a youngun, and they always stropped before and after the use of their razors.
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Ah, that makes sense. Since the edge we’re dealing with on a microscopic level, I suppose it could come out of the drawer a little different than it was put in. Especially if that’s not the very next day.
 
Do yourself one better and take an old pair of jeans cut a 3 inch by 18 inch square burnish the edges attach some string to hang it or some Chicago screws and a handle and you are good to go as well
 
Xenostr8shaver said:
Do yourself one better and take an old pair of jeans cut a 3 inch by 18 inch square burnish the edges attach some string to hang it or some Chicago screws and a handle and you are good to go as well
Click to expand...

Great idea. I’ll have to have the kids scrounge for a pair that doesn’t fit.
 
It will work as well as a linen strop and like a fast draw horween, plus you can use Lapping paste on it as well, plus it is a good trainer for getting your laps consistent. plus it is cheap
 
I was more talking about adding more laps per session. And unfortunately, yes it had been nicked a couple times. Luckily, they are at the end and can be avoided.
 
Josh is correct about Eric and Craig being correct. ;-) I also occasionally anoint my strop with lather to work some oils into the leather. My barber told me to do that. Of course he told me to use lather on my stones too, but I don’t do that.
 
Majorrich said:
Josh is correct about Eric and Craig being correct. ;-) I also occasionally anoint my strop with lather to work some oils into the leather. My barber told me to do that. Of course he told me to use lather on my stones too, but I don’t do that.
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I never heard of lather on the strop Rich, but I have heard of putting neatsfoot oil on the back side of the strop, and have done this. It will slowly permeate the entire thickness of the leather. I have also used lather on my 2x8 Black Ark for maintenance honing, but I have since switched over to Smith's honing solution, then dilute with water. I would not recommend lather on a porous stone.
 
I occasionally clean my strop with saddle soap that has added conditioning goodies but mostly I just give it a rub and go. I will attest to the “fact” that the old vintage linen firehose does a great job to improve an edge, particularly when used during the honing process.

My my routine typically involves a good 30 laps on linen post shave (following a rinse in 90% etoh and wipe down). I regularly do 50 laps on leather pre-shave but I usually do the stropping the night before because my wife has threatened my life should she hear the “swish” of the strop too early. I don’t always use a cloth component befor the leather BUT I can say with some certainty that not using linen before leather seems to make my leather get dirty sooner ...I suppose I am depositing the oxidation that accumulates with time. I rotate razors so the edge being stripped may well have sat for a couple months.

it was hard for me to accept but we do have to remember the razors shaving edge is microscopic and things happen at those microscopic levels that we don’t see. Stropping on leather is a reliable and mild way to address the microscopic changes that influence a shave.
 
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