Valet auto strop! how many laps?

I've been using my Valet auto strop with a Feather SE blade this week but after the 2nd shave it started tugging. I was going to strop it ever 3 shaves but that didn't work out. So I started stropping ater every shave. I was only doing 10 laps and I was still getting a bad shave.

My question is how many laps should I do with these Feather blades?

I generally strop about 50 laps, which is probably more than is needed.

This is with NOS vintage Auto-Strop blades, which I strop before every shave.

Stainless steel blades do not respond well to stropping. All I've ever accomplished by stropping a stainless steel blade is to turn a sharp blade into a dull one.

This is one reason I don't particularly care for the SS Feather blades - they're expensive and if you're lucky you get two good shaves.

--Bob

Yeah I realize this now after purchasing the Feather blades. I have 2 Valet blades but I can't get thse to shave great either.

I might try 30-50 laps on one of the Valet blades and try shaving with it tomorrow.

If you look at your old valet blades under a microscope you will probably see that the edges are pretty far gone. When I was messing with them I had two strops. One I kept clean, the other I used with CrOx. It is tricky though because when you develop a fin edge from too many edge-trailing laps on CrOx there is no convenient way to remove it. What I ended up doing is overstropping on the CrOx, then corking the blade, then giving it a half dozen more laps on the CrOx. You really cant over strop on the clean leather as long as you keep it nice and tight so go 4 or 5 dozen laps.

No matter what you do, you wont get a spectacular shave from these razors if you are used to a good DE and modern blade. That is, unless you like the shave from the Feather. And as said above, they dont respond much at all from stropping.

Some Valet models can take a modified SE blade. You might find one that works for you.

Mostly these razors are just something cool, and sure, you can shave with them, but there are better options.

Which FEATHER blades do you have? Flip the box over and see if they are FAS or FHS as the code word.

Here's how to tell the difference:




If you have the ones on the right, they're really poor. The ones on the left are better and should not need stropping, but I never got more than a couple of shaves out of them before they dulled.

My preference was for the Valet VC1/VB1 which the blade would be slid into from the side rather than captured by a gate or slide grips. Those razors can take a GEM blade with the spine removed.

Mine are the FHS-10 from Connaught.