The usefulness of cloth

[kohalajohn]

I've checked this forum for this answer, but not found it.

Question about cloth/linen. I've never used either, as I've seen it as just a cleaning the razor thing. And I fully clean my razor on a towel before stropping. I also wonder what happens when the cloth eventually gets soiled from the razor. Do we wash it?

But is there a stropping benefit to cloth? Does it straighten out a worn edge as leather does?

It seems to me that the cloth is just there as it's "nice" to have and to use. And maybe it's a holdover from the days when we didn't have freshly cleaned towels all the time.

But perhaps I'm wrong and there's some benefit.

Your thoughts appreciated.

 

[stone and strop]

Linen will bring back an edge that leather will not.
It is useful.
When the leather is not bringing it back fully, give it a treatment on the linen, then leather again.
Its not entirely necessary regularly but you will need more laps on leather when the edge starts to drop off if you don't have linen.
Many use linen each time before leather and that works as well also.

 

[bluesman 7]

Linen, hemp, and some polys have a silica content and are abrasive. I've never gotten much off of cotton. Yes, you just wash the fabric if it gets soiled.

 

[LJS]

+1 on stone-n-strop. This is my experience. Linen, real linen, does something extra.

 

[kohalajohn]

@CFrankC is good enough to be mailing me some linen for me to try out.

So I'll see.

 

[duke762]

I just can't get over the noise and vibration factor. I try to be so careful with a perfectly flat hone, dressed to perfection, careful strokes, controlled pressure.........It just seems counterintuitive to drag my babied razor over something that says Zooop with every stroke. I need to experiment more with this and maybe get over my hang up.

 

[rbscebu]

I just can't get over the noise and vibration factor. I try to be so careful with a perfectly flat hone, dressed to perfection, careful strokes, controlled pressure.........It just seems counterintuitive to drag my babied razor over something that says Zooop with every stroke. I need to experiment more with this and maybe get over my hang up.

I feel the same way. Cloth just seams too course for me on a well honed edge. I glue natural chamois to my cloth strops and a blade gets about 6 to 8 laps after each shave, just to clean the edge before 50 laps on a 0.1um diamond pasted hanging balsa strop. Then the razor is store in a photographic dry cabinet.

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[Tony Miller]

I just can't get over the noise and vibration factor. I try to be so careful with a perfectly flat hone, dressed to perfection, careful strokes, controlled pressure.........It just seems counterintuitive to drag my babied razor over something that says Zooop with every stroke. I need to experiment more with this and maybe get over my hang up.

The "Zoop" made me laugh. yes, some cloth has a slight corregated weave and will make the same "zoop" as a fast walker in a new pair of cordoroy pants Other cloth types are less prone to the "zoop". I know my 2 1/2" cotton has a sound when stropping, the 3" not so much and the real linen, due to the type of weave is fairly silent. Firmness/softness of the cloth, in addition to the type of weave all has an affect on sound.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Oh yeah, you look at linen under the scope and there's some scattered naturally occurring abrasive in there. Fo' Sho'.

There's actually some scientific studies on hemp/linen/other natural fibers that have to do with silica particles, size/distribution/etc with some really good magnified images you can see. They're mostly related to other things than the use of those fibers in stropping though, so you have to read through them to glean the info you want if you care about more than the pictures.


That said... Is it necessary? Nah, I've used the suede/leather combo on my Kanayama and it works just fine. Maybe it wouldn't keep an edge going as long? I don't know. I hone after every shave.

For me the most important aspect of a secondary is that it doesn't damage the edge (I've had some that did). After that is the feel. Efficacy has never been a problem on anything that passed those two hurdles.

 

[Klarion]

As someone who enjoys 0.1 micron pasted strop edges and that high initial keen edge, I would say no. Not for edge maintenance really. They just go back to the pastes. However, it’s useful for cleaning the edge of abrasives and making sure my razor is dry before it ever touches Leather.

For someone that doesn’t have any and is just trying to extend blade life between sending their razors out to a honemeister? Yes. Absolutely. I preferred natural flax linen for years trying to preserve edges as best as possible. And honestly, back then, I loved playing around with all that stropping.

 

[Irvin Logan]

As someone who enjoys 0.1 micron pasted strop edges and that high initial keen edge, I would say no. Not for edge maintenance really. They just go back to the pastes. However, it’s useful for cleaning the edge of abrasives and making sure my razor is dry before it ever touches Leather.

For someone that doesn’t have any and is just trying to extend blade life between sending their razors out to a honemeister? Yes. Absolutely. I preferred natural flax linen from aesthetic shops for years trying to preserve edges as best as possible. And honestly, back then, I loved playing around with all that stropping.

That's the best thing about natural linen. And who is the one who doesn't like shopping.

 

[john shea]

I find that stropping on a clean well broken in fabric strop is mildly abrasive and helps restore edges between shaves. I prefer real linen, but my cotton strops also work. My strops were made by Tony Miller. There are some fabrics reported to need special pre-treatment such as the Kanayama linen strop where its maker recommends prewashing several times and other treatment before its first use. Without pre-treatment, some users have reported that his hard untreated linen degraded their edge. Kanayama strops are about as good as strops get. While the fabric strop does dry and clean the edge, it is not used like a cleaning towel to wipe lather off a blade or abrasive swarf from honing. The blade should be wiped clean before stropping on fabric. I usually strop fabric about 20 passes with 50 on leather before and after each shave. I prefer the 3 inch wide strops and strop with them laying flat on the sink base top. If that does not work, I repeat stropping and then try refreshing the edge using pasted strops. It is interesting to note that the historical literature from the former J. R. Torrey Razor Company in Worcester MA advised its customers that the fine performance of its strops was attributed to its strop paste. If pasted strops do not restore the edge, it is time to rehone.

 

[jason12768]

I find cloth very useful.
Some leathers are more abrasive than others, while linen is more "abrasive" than other components.
I imagine cowhide would be a bit more abrasive than horsehide, and horsehide to be a bit better for pure edge alignment.
I enjoy cotton, but really feel the linen does more for my edge and ups it a bit. (Especially on my Coticule edges)
I personally really enjoy a linen + horsehide combo, it provides for a bit of abrasive by the linen + very fine edge alignment by the horsehide.

Either way, cloth is a very good edge cleaner post shave and post honing, a must imo.
I imagine the suede on the Kanayama to be similar to cloth or a more abrasive sort of leather. It works.

 

[Rusty Blade]

I use my linen strop post shave. I rinse, wipe the blade with a clean towel and then strop on linen for 10 laps to ensure the edge is dry.