Attached is a diagram illustrating a technique I have been using with a linen and cordovan leather hanging strop (~5 cm wide by ~42 cm long) over the past month or so, which has helped me to maintain a pretty sharp edge during this time. It is slightly modified from the stropping technique of a friend and fellow wet-shaver in the nearby town of Nancy. Basically, the technique involves the X-stroke, but is limited to only half of the strop's entire length. This may help in avoiding any stray cuts into the strop itself, which in my case, have invariably occurred at either the top or the bottom end of the strop when seeking to strop along the most of the strop's length.
Prior to shaving, I strop for 15 laps on linen, followed by 50 laps on leather. In each case, the laps occur in three sections on the strop, marked "1," "2," and "3" on the diagram. This is mostly to equalize wear throughout the strop's length, but it also helps as a memory-aid in counting, with 5 laps occurring in each numbered section of the linen side (making for 15 laps total), followed by 10 laps in each numbered section of the leather side and then another 10 laps each in sections 1 and 2 of the leather side (making for 50 laps total). Always, the hand pulling the strop is placed just below the stropping section in question, rather than continually being placed at the very end.
Prior to shaving, I strop for 15 laps on linen, followed by 50 laps on leather. In each case, the laps occur in three sections on the strop, marked "1," "2," and "3" on the diagram. This is mostly to equalize wear throughout the strop's length, but it also helps as a memory-aid in counting, with 5 laps occurring in each numbered section of the linen side (making for 15 laps total), followed by 10 laps in each numbered section of the leather side and then another 10 laps each in sections 1 and 2 of the leather side (making for 50 laps total). Always, the hand pulling the strop is placed just below the stropping section in question, rather than continually being placed at the very end.
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