Palm stropping

[mikromicke]

I've tried palm stropping a couple of times, they way Mastro Livi does it in one of his videos, and in my mind it really does put an extra level of sharpness to the edge. What are your experiences?

[dnullify]

i've given it a shot once or twice, and was surprised that not only was it not detrimental to the edge, it actually did something.

I've gotten into the habit of stropping on my forearm off the hone before checking the edge, to clean the edge of slurry/paste ect, if anything.

[SamG]

I've had good luck with palm stropping between passes on a blade that is almost in need of a touchup. Extends the useful life of an edge for a little while, and keeps the edge free of gunk.

[honed]

i've given it a shot once or twice, and was surprised that not only was it not detrimental to the edge, it actually did something.

I've gotten into the habit of stropping on my forearm off the hone before checking the edge, to clean the edge of slurry/paste ect, if anything.
It makes sense, our skin is just leather that hasn't dried yet...

I do that forearm stropping after honing before checking the edge too:biggrin1:

[alx gilmore]

Fellows
I palm strop almost exclusively and I have seen through a microscope how it affects the edge in a positive way. All honing on stones creates a slight burr and any stropping is an aid in removing the burr, palm stropping included. Another effect that became apperant to me was after going through the body screener at the airport, I was taken aside and they took a swab of my left hand (my strop hand) because the machine picked up traces of a fine powder. After that I realized that in the act of honing and working with my finishing stone some of the grit resides on my hands. This should not seem so unusual but I had not thought of it before, and now I realize that my palm acts as a pasted strop. Alx

[fine wine]

SO........................That's what they call it how..........:lol::lol:......Sorry, I couldn't resist, I tried, really I did, I had the right to remain silent. I just didn't have the ability...................JR

[life2short1971]

You'll go blind! :lol:

[davew]

Yes, palm strop. On an edge that's done well, it does add a little bit. On an edge that's worn a little bit, it's not quite as effective for me.

From what I can tell, I have three general levels of stropping, each one capable of doing a little more to the edge than the following level:
* horse butt
* cow leather, various levels
* palm stropping

Horse butt gives me a great edge, but you can hear that it's abrasive. I like it a lot.

[Greybeard]

I've done the forearm occasionally, too.
Just be careful not to nick your strop. :001_tongu

[Proinsias]

I only tend to use palm stropping when honing prior to checking the edge as others have mentioned.

I'll be giving it a shot prior to shaving soon though, sounds like it could make a rather handy travel strop.

[tomjr]

i palm strop when a razors strarting to give out in mid shave to perk up the edge to finish the shave. it works 4 me on occasion .

[Gamma]

I just use a strop. I see no reason to tempt fate. But - that's just me. I see how using one's hand/palm/arm etc would be the same, but since there is a strop that doesn't bleed hanging right there I see no reason to not use it. But then - if I cut myself I will heal - where the strop will just be damaged forever, so that's something I guess.

[fine wine]

I have got to quit coming to this thread!!! You guys are killing me!!!!!!!!!!!!..........JR

[Seraphim]

Fellows
I palm strop almost exclusively and I have seen through a microscope how it affects the edge in a positive way. All honing on stones creates a slight burr and any stropping is an aid in removing the burr, palm stropping included. Another effect that became apperant to me was after going through the body screener at the airport, I was taken aside and they took a swab of my left hand (my strop hand) because the machine picked up traces of a fine powder. After that I realized that in the act of honing and working with my finishing stone some of the grit resides on my hands. This should not seem so unusual but I had not thought of it before, and now I realize that my palm acts as a pasted strop. Alx

What sort of scope and magnification do you use?

In my investigations I have noticed little visible effect due to regular leather stropping, let alone palm stropping. I'm interested to hear more.

[Gamma]

I'm more interested in the stone-dust impregnated pasted hand-strop.

[Drybonz]

I used to palm strop, but it started to cup.

[Possum]

What sort of scope and magnification do you use?

In my investigations I have noticed little visible effect due to regular leather stropping, let alone palm stropping. I'm interested to hear more.
I send my razor to a friend usually once a year or so depending on what I'm doing and I want to know. Who has access to an scanning electron microscope that can go up to 2K power. I have learned a lot thru the photos he e-mails me back. Like when my razor is expressing a convex edge, the grit scratch pattern and how polished it looks. If your not seeing a difference on the edge before and after stropping then perhaps the photos are not so good as these can be difficult to capture in a magnified image. possum

[Possum]

I just use a strop. I see no reason to tempt fate. But - that's just me. I see how using one's hand/palm/arm etc would be the same, but since there is a strop that doesn't bleed hanging right there I see no reason to not use it. But then - if I cut myself I will heal - where the strop will just be damaged forever, so that's something I guess.
I agree... I keep mine laying beside the sink while I shave. possum

[fine wine]

I send my razor to a friend usually once a year or so depending on what I'm doing and I want to know. Who has access to an scanning electron microscope that can go up to 2K power. I have learned a lot thru the photos he e-mails me back. Like when my razor is expressing a convex edge, the grit scratch pattern and how polished it looks. If your not seeing a difference on the edge before and after stropping then perhaps the photos are not so good as these can be difficult to capture in a magnified image. possum
I would be interested in seeing those pictures myself. The more I can see and understand a theory, the easier it is to work it into my own analysts. It's not that I don't believe you it's just that I don't understand..............JR

[Seraphim]

Fresh off the hones
Palm stropped (greasy palms!)
Cleaned off oil
Stropped on Dovo white canvas, followed by horsehide.

[fine wine]

:mellow: I'm no scientist but that looks like they were taken with a pretty strong microscope to me, but I could be wrong, I was once..............JR

[Seraphim]

Reference scale.

Calipers set to 0.10mm (100um)

[Disburden]

Seeing is believing.

[alx gilmore]

Here are a series of photos I took about a month ago. One thing I want to point out is as you look at the Suehiro 5k scratches the lines of the scratchs look long and regular, this is because the grit particles remain intact and do not cleave and are not friable. I created these first synthetic scratches at a diagonal so that their pattern can be differentiated from the follwoing stone. Notice that beginning with photo #3 there are no long series of scratches, this is because the grit in the japanese awesedo stones is friable and the particles as they are cutting already begin to cleave in to smaller pieces almost on impact. There actually are scratches but the lines are short and more like a burst from a spark, thick at first and fade with a tail.

The next photo #2 shows a human hair taped to the blade for perspective, it is out of focus because of the shallow depth of field of the lens.

Photo #3 shows the first scratch pattern left on the blade using a Jnat, the scratches are short and shallow but as you can see they are agressive in their own right and can remove the deep scratches left by the Suehiro 5k with a minimal of time on the stone. There will be a few very deep scratches from the Suehiro in these photos that will not be removed in this quick study, but they could be with more time spent on the finishing stone or if another stone were inserted earlier in the progression, a 6k to Jnat is a pretty hefty jump. Alx

[alx gilmore]

Photo #4 shows the first effects of the palm stropping. The blade is slightly cleaner & brighter looking at the edge and the cutting edge is more defined as straight and the false or foil edge that was developed by the coarser 5k stone has been stropped off and the short opposite diagonal scratches leading from left to right are created by tiny grit particles retained on the skin of my palm.

Photo #5 represents 20 more short stroks on the Jnat.

Photo #6 displays 20 more palm strokes but in a more head on direction so you can see their actual effect. The edge at this point will pass a HHT-3 and gives a perfecty close and comfortable shave. Alx

[Seraphim]

What do you use for a scope? Your images look just about identical to mine. Thanks for sharing!


EDIT: here's a recent shot of mine with a hair also as reference. Looks like my hair rates at about 75um thick...

[alx gilmore]

Seraphim

I bought this used 1960s Reichert Zetopan with a brightfield or episcopic EPI set-up for metallurgical work or in my case from the mico chip industry. With the EPI set-up the incident light from the light source (I use LED) is focused down directly through the lens tube so it is very bright and floods the subject from above. That is what the tube is leading from the arm to the lens. I have LOMO 21 & 40x lenses so with my camera of 15x, so the effective magnification is 315x or with the 40x lens 600x photos. I am now upgrading my camera to a digital Nikon to increase my resolution. Alx

http://www.thejapanblade.com/images/reichert.jpg

[Seraphim]

Sweet!

Through the lens illumination is awesome. I used to use one of the high zoot megabucks Olympus scopes back in the lab that had that feature, but didn't want to get busted and explain what I was doing there with a big ol' razor on the scope....

[fine wine]

:sad: I don't , I don't have one of those's...............Can I still play? :sad:.........JR

[Seraphim]

This is mine:

[Drybonz]

:)

[Seraphim]

But of course!

[Drybonz]

I've had a Gold Dollar sitting in a box for a couple months, and for some reason posting that gave me the inspiration to start working on it. I'm going for a shoulderless look... I think that may be too ambitious though. The worst part, so far, though, was getting the titanium pin out.