OK so if I put a nice even edge on the razor with 0.5um (lapping film), the edge looks very smooth and fine under a microscope...What does leather stropping do for you?
Does it further smooth out the edge somehow? I read the thread about slow versus fast stroping, and all that, so it seems stropping has or can have a major impact on shave quality.
I guess my question is, apparently the finest edges up until fairly recently were only honed to a 8000 level (ala Norton 4000/8000), and I can see the leather strop being used to further smooth and refine that type of edge, which has a fair bit of structure to it.
Now, with many of us using 1.0um-->0.5um (even 0.25um) finishing pastes or what have you, is the strop counter-productive since the edge quality with these mediums is really quite smooth already?
I haven't recieved my strop yet and have had two pretty nice shaves with a blade straight off the 0.5um. So, I'm just trying to learn as much as I can as I move forward.
Does it further smooth out the edge somehow? I read the thread about slow versus fast stroping, and all that, so it seems stropping has or can have a major impact on shave quality.
I guess my question is, apparently the finest edges up until fairly recently were only honed to a 8000 level (ala Norton 4000/8000), and I can see the leather strop being used to further smooth and refine that type of edge, which has a fair bit of structure to it.
Now, with many of us using 1.0um-->0.5um (even 0.25um) finishing pastes or what have you, is the strop counter-productive since the edge quality with these mediums is really quite smooth already?
I haven't recieved my strop yet and have had two pretty nice shaves with a blade straight off the 0.5um. So, I'm just trying to learn as much as I can as I move forward.