Yeah. I personally like the fact that the guy has unorthodox methods that work well for him; it's always good to have folks challenge orthodoxy. But in this case, he's simply wrong, in my experience. Aligning blade edges by stropping substantially improves them in every case I have tried, with multiple bladed tools and strop materials, ranging from razors on denim and leather to knives on kitchen steels.
Daily razor care to maintain edge
- Thread starter 6Cuda6
- Start date
Dug up the strop you're using. Looks a bit better than their $3 one, but definitely not the sort I'd expect good results with. It doesn't appear to be suede/leather. Rather, a very poor attempt at suede on one side and a very chewed up hunk of flesh on the other. It is probably suitable for extremely toothy/low refinement edges, like a rough finished pocket-knife; but not for a razor.
If you have an old leather belt around with recessed or no stitching; give your razor a few strokes on it. It doesn't take special leather to strop on; it just has to be... well... leather. I'd hesitate to call that strop leather. If you ordered a leather jacket and it showed up made of that material, would you think you'd gotten what you paid for? I mean, that stuff was probably attached to an animal of some sort at some point in time... maybe... but I still don't know that it can rightly be considered leather. It looks more like corkboard than leather to me.
If you have an old leather belt around with recessed or no stitching; give your razor a few strokes on it. It doesn't take special leather to strop on; it just has to be... well... leather. I'd hesitate to call that strop leather. If you ordered a leather jacket and it showed up made of that material, would you think you'd gotten what you paid for? I mean, that stuff was probably attached to an animal of some sort at some point in time... maybe... but I still don't know that it can rightly be considered leather. It looks more like corkboard than leather to me.
I'd love to see you try to raise a slurry on some of my finer coticules. You'd probably get one going off your films faster.
No, it's not slurry that makes coti edges cut the way they do. It's probably the geometry of the abrasive particles, and/or their arrangement in the stone. If slurry was the culprit, then you could raise a slurry on a high grit synthetic and get a nice forgiving shave out of it.
the funny thing about all this is, I am getting a beastly edge using just newspaper strop (newspaper wrapped tight around a marble slab) along with a paddle strop. One side of paddle strop (suede side) I have applied green paste. 200 laps on newspaper strop though, is getting a bit tedious.
On ocassion after shaving I use the paddle strop and I am at it a few times till I hear that SWISSH of the sharp blade.
But each time I skip the newspaper strop, I get a small cut or nick somewhere. What does this mean ? My muscle memory is now so softened by the 70k grit of newspaper that anything lesser will land me in blood ? Muscle memory seems to be aligned to certain level of sharpness. It is ok if the blade is sharper but anything that less will land in trouble.
I say this because initially when I was new to honing, my blades where nowhere as sharp as when I started using 12k/10k/8k stones and then finishing on newspaper. But I still used to get a shave.
One query:
does anybody have a clue what grit this stone could be ?
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Larg...714618101.html?spm=2114.13010308.0.118.IrJTCv
On ocassion after shaving I use the paddle strop and I am at it a few times till I hear that SWISSH of the sharp blade.
But each time I skip the newspaper strop, I get a small cut or nick somewhere. What does this mean ? My muscle memory is now so softened by the 70k grit of newspaper that anything lesser will land me in blood ? Muscle memory seems to be aligned to certain level of sharpness. It is ok if the blade is sharper but anything that less will land in trouble.
I say this because initially when I was new to honing, my blades where nowhere as sharp as when I started using 12k/10k/8k stones and then finishing on newspaper. But I still used to get a shave.
One query:
does anybody have a clue what grit this stone could be ?
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Larg...714618101.html?spm=2114.13010308.0.118.IrJTCv
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Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
If you set your newspaper up as a hanging strop, you will get a more comfortable shave. Fold a whole sheet lengthwise again and again until it is 3" wide or a bit less. Pass one end over a towel rack or similar. Pinch the two ends together. Pull tight. Strop. Not as good as a proper leather hanging strop, by far, but better than nothing.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
It says that it is a fine grit qingshi so it would seem it's a PHIG. I think you can get them at Woodcraft and other sources for about the same price.
Cheers, Steve
- Thread starter
- #68
Great advise Slash...I never thought of doing it this way as I usually fold it over and use the dresser or desk edge in the hotel rooms....ill give this a go (waiting on my handmade travel strop to arrive from Down Under...hopefully it should be anyday now)
This is why new straight razor shavers get confused, because of threads like these (just a joke).
At the end of the day, try stropping, and try without stropping. 19/20 straight razor shavers probably strop. Hitting the stone with a razor excessively is just going to wear down the razor faster. Some people go months without ever touching a stone. If you're new to straights all this is just going to confuse you, personally I find stropping to be a good bit of fun.
That ZY strop looks very suspect, plus the guy in the video doesn't look like he knows how to strop very well. Personally I think you have to spend at least $60 on a good quality strop.
At the end of the day, try stropping, and try without stropping. 19/20 straight razor shavers probably strop. Hitting the stone with a razor excessively is just going to wear down the razor faster. Some people go months without ever touching a stone. If you're new to straights all this is just going to confuse you, personally I find stropping to be a good bit of fun.
That ZY strop looks very suspect, plus the guy in the video doesn't look like he knows how to strop very well. Personally I think you have to spend at least $60 on a good quality strop.
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I was not able to see the strop at the alibaba link but if it is the ZY canvas/"leather" strop then I can confirm: the canvas component is fine and actually useful, but the "leather" is garbage. Keep it for the canvas though, it's decent.
Edit: fixed the link, nope, that one is different than mine, and looks actually worse in ways. It looks like fake suede? This is not the strop you want.
Edit: fixed the link, nope, that one is different than mine, and looks actually worse in ways. It looks like fake suede? This is not the strop you want.
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It's true, I know who you're talking about and have spent some time trying both methods. For months now I've maintained several different blades, using the two different methods and I can confidently say that there is a marked difference in the keeness and face feel of a blade that's been taken to 30k and joined then brought back, then maintained on stones, as opposed to a blade that was finished and strop maintained. The main difference, I think, is cost. Most people can't afford to buy hones from 1k thru to 30k. Instead ppl generally have someone hone their blade then strop until the next necessary honing.
If you hone your own blade. ...a strop, while useful in polishing and finishing if you don't have high level hones, is mostly not necessary.
In fact I generally finish on my la drassante and only palm strop a little.
The hone meister in question actually tells about a study done involving strops, and how to quantify the damaged done to the edge over a set amount of passes. He says that any more than 10 to 15 begins degrading the fine edge of a razor. Not true however of knives and such. Their edges are beefy as and can take it.
In the end, I've gotten great shaves from stropping, and great shaves from just coming off the hone.
Find what works for you and go for it!
If you hone your own blade. ...a strop, while useful in polishing and finishing if you don't have high level hones, is mostly not necessary.
In fact I generally finish on my la drassante and only palm strop a little.
The hone meister in question actually tells about a study done involving strops, and how to quantify the damaged done to the edge over a set amount of passes. He says that any more than 10 to 15 begins degrading the fine edge of a razor. Not true however of knives and such. Their edges are beefy as and can take it.
In the end, I've gotten great shaves from stropping, and great shaves from just coming off the hone.
Find what works for you and go for it!
0.3 and 0.1 micron film is considerably finer than a 30k stone, closer to 100k and 300k respectively. And I am pretty sure the folks that use it who are posting in this thread would not skip stropping or think it makes the film edges worse. But you're right, folks should try it both ways and see.
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
By all means, try shaving without stropping. I have done so, after .1u diamond, and I still find a good stropping improves the shave. No increase in cutting power at this grit, no, but a definite increase in comfort. I tried it, and I can do it if I need to, but I prefer to not need to. Stropping for me is part of the shave.
- Thread starter
- #74
Do certain blade grinds and blade materials respond better to not stropping verse stropping? Im wondering if the deeper the hollow the more stropping helps keep the edge aligned ....
+1 yes Sir! patience and skill will beat equipment in honing. I remember watching old men when I was a child hone a knife razor sharp on the bottom of a coffee cup.
how about fine ceramic tiles ? The ones used to pave bathroom walls. Do they help too if they are fine and even ?
not on all though, but I do sense and notice some fine grit on some ceramics.
not on all though, but I do sense and notice some fine grit on some ceramics.
I had a very plain chunk of gray ceramic that I used for years as a kid that did a fantastic job. It wasn't hone shaped and had been broken but it would bring a knife to an edge that would shave leg hair. I liked it for its speed. Then I would go trans Ark and pastes to make a hair popper. I think it all depends on the quality of the ceramic.
that's nice to know. But very rarely are these ceramics perfectly flat, if you know what I mean. The heat treatment in mass manufactured tiles leave them with a sag in the middle. but occasionaly one does come across a perfectly flat piece, it does happen.
Oh I am sure it wasn't flat. I was a teenage boy sharpening pocket knives and the thought that a flat hone would work better had never dawned on me. I would use whatever my Dad or Uncle had laying on their workbench.
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