I was Once Confused with Honing, I'm Now Confused with Stropping

[duke762]

I've been hanging out in the honing forum for a couple years and think I have it down pretty well. Now it's time to master stropping. I saw this video posted in honing and a couple questions arose. Barber video.honing and shave | Badger & Blade

In the stropping video, the barber uses what seems like a ton of paste. Normal, necessary, or personal preference?

Is he using soap on top of his paste? Why?

Does anyone strop on their hand like this guy. It's almost like an automatic thing he does when he picks up a razor.

I purchased a Kriegar, Pakistani paddle strop to practice on (because I'm cheap) and the leather seems so awful dry. Kind of bumpy also. Does it need something or just the nature of the cheap beast?

Thank you in advance. Any input will be helpful.

 

[Twelvefret]

I've been hanging out in the honing forum for a couple years and think I have it down pretty well. Now it's time to master stropping. I saw this video posted in honing and a couple questions arose. Barber video.honing and shave | Badger & Blade

In the stropping video, the barber uses what seems like a ton of paste. Normal, necessary, or personal preference?

Is he using soap on top of his paste? Why?

Does anyone strop on their hand like this guy. It's almost like an automatic thing he does when he picks up a razor.

I purchased a Kriegar, Pakistani paddle strop to practice on (because I'm cheap) and the leather seems so awful dry. Kind of bumpy also. Does it need something or just the nature of the cheap beast?

Thank you in advance. Any input will be helpful.

At some point we all make this an individual endeavor, but it does not mean what we do should be followed or that it is a best practice. It's just something that works for us.

I use a paddle strop with rough side out and Chromium Oxide. I use a piece of balsa impregnated with diamond paste. Always with a clean blade I strop an old Illinois horse hide and fire hose linen....no paste touches the Illinois.

 

[Gamma]

There are a million ways to get to the top of any mountain.
That guy's path is one way, and to be honest I don't understand his techniques.
But it seems to be working for him. If his red paste is typical FeOx that we use for finishing, it would normally be used after honing on a stone, not before. Maybe it's a different type of red paste that is coarser. The amount of slack in his loom strop is bizarre to me. Then he's using what appears to be a lot of pressure on the coticule, which is usually counterproductive. But he shaves with the edge and it seems fine. I might feel differently about that if I shaved with it myself, but I don't know for sure.
There's a video of a barber on Route 66, and he strops with so much pressure that I can't bear to watch it. But that technique seems to be working for him and that particular razor. The amount of deflection from that much pressure will ruin an edge I honed. So I can't imagine what condition his edge is pre-stropping. But he shaves with it, and that's all that matters I guess.

 

[GearNoir]

Of anyone that’s been doing it well for a long time, I don’t ask questions, I just pick up tips and ideas.