More stropping or time for a hone?

Does this razor need stropping, honing or is this normal wear in the middle of the blade?

That looks like a rolled edge which will require honing. It ,most likely, happened while stropping.

Yup the shiny part looks like it needs some work. I would go to bevel on that one definitely. Many may disagree but thats what I would do.

I would say it needs to be honed again as stropping won't fix that

after you get the edge back and I do agree with buca start from bevel set upwards. try keeping the spine on the strop and not lifting it from the strop.most likely what rolled the edge in the first place.slow down on the leather. speed comes with skill and skill comes from practice.

Yup, if you can see that with a naked eye, it's fixing time!

Hone it.
You 'may' be able to get somewhere with a pasted strop - Dovo's green/red pastes could do the trick. Then you'd need to follow with a finer paste or a finishing hone.

But - honing it out from the bevel onwards 'will' solve the issue for sure.

That would likely need a honing, no harm can come from a good stropping session though.

oh it needs a good honing, but with that particular razor a stone should not be used. That razor is made for lapping paper only, besides laping paper is better and gives the best edge anyways.

admvalentine said:

oh it needs a good honing, but with that particular razor a stone should not be used. That razor is made for lapping paper only, besides laping paper is better and gives the best edge anyways.

Click to expand...

Here is a picture of the middle of my strop, could these wrinkles have rolled the blade or is it most likely my technique?

If the problem is that visible on the blade, most likely technique IMHO. Is that an actual razor strop or a piece of leather adapted for stropping?

Cheers, Steve

That is an actual strop. I've been rubbing it with my palm but I wonder it that is the reason for wear on the blade?
I purchased another razor and I am scared to strop it because I don't want to ruin the edge...

Spek_38 said:

That is an actual strop. I've been rubbing it with my palm but I wonder it that is the reason for wear on the blade?
I purchased another razor and I am scared to strop it because I don't want to ruin the edge...

Click to expand...

I doubt that the strop was the problem. I have a vintage strop that has a leather secondary marked "Sharpen" that has a very pronounced waffle pattern stamped in. It is very loud to strop on. I never use it, but the times I've tried it there was no damage caused by it. It's a couple orders of magnitude rougher than your picture.

Rubbing with your palm is good for the strop and really all you should do other than clean it with water and a rag maybe once a year. I agree that it's unlikely the strop. You should be using very light pressure and not rotating the razor with respect to the edge. Alfredo, Doc226, has a good stropping video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ssDkAH2kV0

Cheers, Steve

For major edge re-alignment, etc, I recommend a hone/stone/DMT for the heavy lifting, which it appears is what this particular razor needs.

Nice try stirring the pot though!

I think we're all basking in the afterglow of our most recent blowout, and dont have the inclination to start arguing again.

I did try lol

Try again after Christmas perhaps?

Maybe mid January when we're all busy paying holiday bills, shoveling our driveways, etc. We'll be ripe for some bickering right about then, I figure.

So the lapping paper thing was a joke then?
Anyway, I was thinking of using a naniwa 5000, 8000 and 12000 to try and bring the razor back to shave ready. Can I shave right from the 12000 after stropping or do I need to go to a paste after that?

That will work, then shave with Arco and only Arco, because it's the best. And only use clubman after shave. And cold water shave is the only way to shave.....