Stropping controversies!

[Carlo A]

Good day gents.

As a newcomer into str8 rzr shaving, I have made quite a bit of research, and consequently, found some critical information about stropping and blade behavior.

Many of you strop after, between, or before each shave: we all have different preferences which is understandable, respectable, and important.

But the following guide, officially typed by Dovo, has facts about what we should do with stropping.

Please pay particular attention to paragraphs numbered 2 and 5, which talk about waiting periods before stropping as the blade requires time to naturally return to its original alignment and to prevent potential harm to the edge.

Also the article mentions that stropping can be done after a certain amount of shaves.

Please check out the following link and give me feedback.

http://www.knifecenter.com/knifecenter/sharpen/instrazor.html

Have a good day/night everyone.

 

[raccoonandbrush]

I guess stropping could be done after a few shaves, but I personally prefer to strop before and after each use.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Try stropping every shave for a week, then try only stropping every 3 or 4 shaves.

Do what works best for you.

 

[altshaver]

The blade "resting" thing is mostly regarded as an old-time myth. Most people strop before they shave. Some people find they need to strop midway through the shave too. Also, many people strop their razor after cleaning it at the end of the shave to ensure that the edge of the blade is dried off. However, you are free to experiment and find methods that work for you the best.

 

[LarryAndro]

The blade "resting" thing is mostly regarded as an old-time myth...

I think that is the consensus the straight razor community has come to. When I started frequenting SRP and BB about 1-1/2 years ago there was a steady hum of talk about resting razors, and the teeth or fins that needed to realign. That has slowly died away, and I don't hear much reference any more to resting razors.

Whether it is true or not, I think we have concluded it is not. Or, it is not a practical concern.

Something in the article got my attention...

If required, the leather side can be rubbed with an extremely thin layer of fine abrasive paste (red paste) and - for a final polishing on a separate strop - with polishing paste (black paste)...

This is a reference in all likelihood to Dovo red and Dovo black pastes. While it would be natural for this Dovo company blurb to push their product. I think it more likely that these references to Dovo red and black pastes indicate the article is fairly old.

As for stropping less often than once every shave, sure it can be done. Once you learn stretching and slicing and scything and the like, it is possible to get fairly good shaves from marginal blades. That being said, I wouldn't want to!

 

[BladeRunner001]

I guess stropping could be done after a few shaves, but I personally prefer to strop before and after each use.

+1 ...that's what I do too

 

[Leche]

I strop before every shave but after I have lathered up. This gives an advantage of allowing the lather to really soften and prep the beard. I also always start with the cotton strop loaded with Dovo white paste. The biggest thing I have noticed with that is my razors last much longer between touch ups. I also do 5 laps after shaving to insure a dry edge.

 

[ouch]

Dovo? What the heck do they know about stropping?

If you don't believe me, try one of their factory edges.

 

[Luc]

Depends what work best for you. For me it's between shaves...

 

[Oglethorpe]

Dovo? What the heck do they know about stropping?

If you don't believe me, try one of their factory edges.

+1

Deliver a sharpened blade and maybe I'll listen to your stropping advice.

 

[Neurotopia]

+2

This me officially typing that Dovo may make good razors, but is occasionally full of it.

 

[ImaWestie]

I strop before every shave but after I have lathered up. This gives an advantage of allowing the lather to really soften and prep the beard. I also always start with the cotton strop loaded with Dovo white paste. The biggest thing I have noticed with that is my razors last much longer between touch ups. I also do 5 laps after shaving to insure a dry edge.

Thank you very much! As someone just starting on their straight shaving experience you have given me a sensible sounding routine, along with a sound reason for using it - strop after lathering but before shaving to give time for the lather to do its' work.

As for Dovo's advice - I would only have taken it with a grain of salt as being most likely worded to assist you in "best using their fine products". ie, it's a sales pitch as much as it is practical advice.

 

[ShavedZombie]

Time for me to weigh in on this.

First of all, I strop before and after every shave (sometimes in between if I feel like it... I never really need to though). I pick my strop based on the blade and my mood (predominately based on my mood). I don't use a pasted strop for touchups, especially not daily.

Bit of background information for new guys: Dovo is a longstanding, Old company... They used to produce fully sharpened, properly stropped razors for PROFESSIONAL [and this isn't specifically experience level I'm talking about, I mean Barber by profession, not expert barber] Barbers. The razors would be honed, taken on to Dovo Paste, and then put through stropping. If you look at vintage strops, 9/10 times you will see the residue of abrasive pastes on the fabric side... That was the standard back then. When going between customers the leather side was enough for upkeep until the barber could get some downtime to touch up the edge, which would deteriorate fast (Imagine shaving stubble/beard twice every hour, for 12 hour shifts. That's bloody hard on a razor). After so many shaves, the leather wouldn't be enough, so they'd go to the pasted fabric (some times a Barber's hone, time permitting/razor demanding) and then back to the leather. Then it was back to shave - leather - shave - leather - repeat, until the paste was needed again.

Also worth noting was the theory of "resting a razor". Barber's would keep rotations of razors so that, when one started to tug, they could switch it up for another without inconveniencing clients. Then, when they put that razor back into rotation, it would be after it had rested and been re-touched on the paste or barber's hone.

In that vein, Dovo recommends using the paste on all strops because it was quite common for day to day stropping to be done on leather only, the fabric portion only being used later for touchups. Now-a-days we have all the fancy gizmos and tricks, but back then it was a leather strop, a pasted fabric, and a barber's hone (if you're lucky. Otherwise it was 50 cents to have a barber hone the razor for you). This dovo article is a modern reprinting of the old instructions.

Does that make any sense?

By the way, I learned the vast majority of this from a 70 year old barber who I've chatted with since I got into straights, so what I know is what he did/what he was taught. Not sure about variance in other regions, just going on what he said.

So, is that article wrong? No... Are we the target audience for those instructions? Also no.

EDIT: Although, I haven't experimented extensively with DOVO's paste, so I don't know what the white is... I do know a few guys who I consider more strop-wise than myself who use pasted strops daily... But it's an incredibly fine paste. One uses ash/soot, the other uses sidewalk chalk. Very light amounts, very minimal strokes, and good results. Not myself, though.

Cheers,
Jeremy

 

[JPDyson]

Are there any "big name" makers that bother putting a good, keen edge on a new razor?

 

[Chimensch]

Good day gents.

As a newcomer into str8 rzr shaving, I have made quite a bit of research, and consequently, found some critical information about stropping and blade behavior.

Many of you strop after, between, or before each shave: we all have different preferences which is understandable, respectable, and important.

But the following guide, officially typed by Dovo, has facts about what we should do with stropping.

Please pay particular attention to paragraphs numbered 2 and 5, which talk about waiting periods before stropping as the blade requires time to naturally return to its original alignment and to prevent potential harm to the edge.

Also the article mentions that stropping can be done after a certain amount of shaves.

Please check out the following link and give me feedback.

http://www.knifecenter.com/knifecenter/sharpen/instrazor.html

Have a good day/night everyone.

The text you linked to was not "officially typed by Dovo" but only uses a graphic taken from Dovo. Nowhere does it say that the author, Arthur Boon, has any connection with Dovo. As for the "fin" concept, this was what people thought before the electron microscope but I think it's pretty well been discredited. As for not stropping after every shave, I've tried it and I don't like it. Everyone else is free to do what they want. There's nothing wrong with using a pasted strop but I use fine hones instead. I sometimes wonder how many people working at Dovo actually shave with a straight razor because they seem to be pretty ignorant about how their products are actually used. One of the most surprising things I learned about when I worked for a manufacturer that sells through dealers (Herman Miller) is that the dealers were the ones who knew how the product was used and the manufacturer's people only knew how it was made. I find that this is also true of the straight razor manufacturers.

 

[azmark]

+1

Deliver a sharpened blade and maybe I'll listen to your stropping advice.

+2

This me officially typing that Dovo may make good razors, but is occasionally full of it.

+1

EDIT: Although, I haven't experimented extensively with DOVO's paste, so I don't know what the white is... I do know a few guys who I consider more strop-wise than myself who use pasted strops daily... But it's an incredibly fine paste. One uses ash/soot, the other uses sidewalk chalk. Very light amounts, very minimal strokes, and good results. Not myself, though.

Cheers,
Jeremy

I quit using white months ago and haven't noticed a difference in the quality of the shave.

 

[huracan]

Are there any "big name" makers that bother putting a good, keen edge on a new razor?

I don't know if you would consider them big name, but Hart provided 7 decidedly shave ready razors to me.

 

[Oglethorpe]

I don't know if you would consider them big name, but Hart provided 7 decidedly shave ready razors to me.

+1

Not seven, but Hart also shipped one superbly sharpened razor to me!

 

[Carlo A]

Well everyone, I guess stropping between shaves is what I will do. But I will still try stropping between a few shaves for a week or two, although I was warned in this thread that it does not yield satisfactory results.

All of you guys have and still strop frequently, so your opinions are def. correct, since you all share the same technique, and it gives good results.

And as for the article, I honestly was not even sure it was typed by Dovo -
I also think it was just a Dovo pic, but who cares anyway - as if it mattered!

Thanks folks

 

[Bertilak]

Are there any "big name" makers that bother putting a good, keen edge on a new razor?

Revisor shipped me a well-honed razor.