Pre-Post Shave Stropping

As I was looking thru the internet like i usually do in the evening and looking at shave related items I stumbled across strop care and there seems to be mixed reviews on not only treatment of strops as far as conditioners and such to keep them looking new but also pre and post shave stropping.


So with all that said what is your routine to keep a strop looking new like do you apply any conditioners such as Neatsfoots oil or similar on occasion to keep the leather moist, also what is your take on pre and post shave stropping.


My current regime is to occasionally put a few drops of Neatsfoot oil in my palm and rub it in then i take that same hand and rub it briskly over the strop, I don't this very often like maybe every few months and only do this on some select strops like Bridal leather and oil tanned ones i have, the Notovan and Kanayama's get just rubbing of my palm for the pre shave stropping.


My current stropping routine consists of doing say 30 or so laps on leather just after warming the leather with my hand on the pre shave then post shave I rinse the blade well under hot water then wipe dry and do 20 or so laps on flax linen then another 25 or so on leather, i have recently read that the post shave stropping is not needed and actually can damage the edge ?


So what say all the strop Gurus out there, what's your take on all of this ?

Subscribed....id like to know what to do as well.

I inquired to Martin at Rasurpur the same question as I am getting a exchangable paddle strop from him for my son and responses surprised me compared to what I have read:

I wouldn’t put anything on the leather as this can make the leather too “slippery”. Usually it is enough to wipe over the surface with the palm of your hand every now and then. If the leather is polished you could use a tiny bit of oil but it is not necessary.

If you put too much oil on a napped leather it will become less napped over time. So if you want to keep it the way it is, do not use any oil or grease for that matter.


Pre-stropping is not necessary either. Maybe 5-10 laps on a strop just before shaving is enough. More stropping does not help and if you have the feeling you have to strop more usually means that the razor is not that sharp anymore and needs either a sharpening paste or a resharpening.


And one thing is for certain: Shaving with a straight razor will damage its edge and make it dull.

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I strop post shave to make sure the blade is completely clean and dry before storing. If done properly, no amount of stropping will hurt the blade. Alfredo (Doc226) has a famous thread where he shaved 130+ times with stropping as the only maintenance. That's a lot of stropping. Eventually all blades will need to be re-honed. Stropping is always a good thing IMHO.

For 40 yrs I have done 50 laps on plain leather after shaving. Never damaged a blade. 40 laps on linen and 60 on leather before the shave.

Well I to have done a pre and post shave stopping with no ill affects that I am aware of but it seems that some advocate that post shave damages the edge somehow and this is new to me, my routine includes a pre/post shave stropping so I am guessing I will continue to do so, I have used a leather conditioner ( Bick 4 ) on a few of my strops that looked dry but only a few drops in the palm and then briskly rubbed my hand over the leather, it always has been readily absorbed so I figured it didn't hurt anything but on my cordovan strops i use nothing except a palm rubbing.

Has anyone actually done this scientifically....so hone the edge/ strop... microscope for edge picture....then shave....microscope edge again....strop on linen...micro...strop leather...micro....you get the idea?

I believe stropping does align the edge but would love to know at what point we are just doing passes for nothing....

6Cuda6 said:

I believe stropping does align the edge but would love to know at what point we are just doing passes for nothing....

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You as well as i would love to know, not that I mind stropping but as you said at what point does it actually stop affecting the edge.

Jnatcat said:

You as well as i would love to know, not that I mind stropping but as you said at what point does it actually stop affecting the edge.

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I think this will vary with individual razors, grinds, etc.