Three simple tips for edge care

[Eastcoast30]

@Titleist, you state "He may have made 15 strokes tops and then on to the shave". The gentleman that gave me the three tips also agrees with this. He has said that after honing he goes ten laps on the strop and that's it. All the work is done on the stone. No amount of stropping will cure honing deficiencies.

 

[Eastcoast30]

Palm stropping…I’ve heard it all now. Next I suggest using your dogs ears as a strop because the natural oils on the hairs and loose skin caresses the blade to gently restore the edge. Joking don’t try stropping with your dog’s ears or your flesh…thought I was reading Reddit posts for a minute.

I'm surprised you have only just heard of this. Palm stropping has been around for ages.

 

[Possum092]

I'm surprised you have only just heard of this. Palm stropping has been around for ages.

Not in my parts of the world. This practice was never discussed or used.

 

[Eastcoast30]

Not in my parts of the world. This practice was never discussed or used.

You might give it a try. It's easier than you may think. It is also very helpful when checking an edge in between honing stones. I will quickly palm strop and do a hair test before moving on to the next stone.

 

[Titleist]

I'm surprised you have only just heard of this. Palm stropping has been around for ages.

A lot longer than the talk about JNATS, Cots and pasted Balsa just to name a few. And I actually use two of those during my processes. Back then it was the simple barber hone and the leather and the occasional palm. To be sure, JNATS, Cots and other Natural stone honing has been around for centuries.

The strop has always been and always will be an integral part of straight razor maintenance and care. Like I wrote earlier, I use my palm to strop a few times post shave to remove debris from the edge to avoid transferring those to my linen and leather.

You never stop learning .....

 

[Eastcoast30]

^+1, right. I have only just learned that palm stropping is convenient between stones.

 

[Gamma]

@Gamma, well these are just tips that I pass along. But I do know that the honed edge of a razor can be likened to a foil. And the greater the angle, the greater the edge deflection (roll). Having said that, when outlining the bottom of my beard I do need to hold a larger angle. But I always try to keep the smallest angle possible. And as you say, there are spots that will need a larger angle.

P.S. I enjoy your videos; they are very helpful.

Yah, for sure, passing on info is how we all help each other find their own way. That's exactly what I am doing here also. Different people find different things work best for them. Experts have been saying all kinds of stuff and promoting it as fact since before I arrived. What I found out, rather quickly actually, is that they're not always really experts and quite often they're as wrong as wrong can be. So we test... I started this morning's shave with a dozen passes on horsehide, stopped after WTG and added another 70 or so passes for the final passes. The XTG and ATG went way more smoothly than the WTG pass. Which is pretty much what I expected.

What works for one person may not fly for another. Over the many years on these boards, there have been many suggestions that didn't pan out as claimed.

The concept of increased angles being less desirable from an edge retention POV is not without premise, my interest lies in what the thresholds are; which angles do what, when, and for who. So far, not too much clarity there though.

It is known that driving the edge on an angle to a whisker induces stresses and can cause edge deterioration. There are other factors too, and the principal is not isolated to just razor blades. But this is not in question, it's a fact. But at what angle do edge deformation issues arise and does increasing that angle also increase the incidence of edge distractions? We might not ever know conclusively because it would take forever to isolate the data for every possibility. I raise an eyebrow thinking about a 21˚ angle being exponentially more detrimental when a 19˚ is not. I have not been able to prove anyone's hypothesis about the angles actually, and not for a lack of trying. The best I can come up with is that lower angles irritate me less. Some 'experts' disagree with that though. As if they know what I feel when I shave... morons....

Same sort of thing applies to stropping - I've put blades on the scope after blocks of 10 passes, and then shaved with them, and I've been able to visualize and feel the positive effects from increased distances traveled on a variety of surfaces. There is most definitely a major difference, for me here in my house, in how the blade's apex looks and works with increased effort on the substrate. There is also also a 'diminishing returns' thing that happens at some point. With one particular type of uncharged surface the thresholds are roughly 750-1000 inches depending on the substrate and how long the edge has been in continual service. Generally, fewer passes equals a felt loss in smoothness and cutting efficacy, more passes doesn't result in any repeatable improvements. Edges at the end of their life need more attention and possibly more slack in the strop too. Even so, I go by feel and not counting, the feedback tells me what I need to know and it agrees with the visual findings.
Again, this is what I experience here, with my gear.

Running my edges over, say, 200 or less inches of leather has proven to return sub-par shaves and high magnification visual inspection reveals those edges would need continued effort to get into 'shave-ready' condition. Yet, some guys strop much more than I do, others a lot less. That famous video of that fellow in Germany who strops for a a few seconds on a hank of leather hanging in his kitchen comes to mind. That approach has never worked well for me but it doesn't have to, and vice versa.

 

[Eastcoast30]

I think what you are saying is, "the proof is in the pudding". I tend to agree. I don't believe in the expert approach. What works for one person may not work for another. And taking it a step further, what works for one razor may not work for another razor. Who is to say? The only thing that really counts is whether or not you enjoy SR shaving and all that comes with it, such as selecting, searching, honing, trading, scoping out stones, soaps, brushes, etc.

 

[Eastcoast30]

Just adding to the above. I honed a Red Imp razor on Shapton Glass 16k and got a perfect smooth shaving edge. I honed a Henkotsu kamisori on the same 16k stone and got a very sharp edge, but not so easy on the face. It would "bite" if touched to the face a certain way. So I took the edge down on an Oozuku jnat fpr a smoother feel. This is a good example of how what works for one razor will not work for another.

 

[Manannan]

Palm stropping, slowly and carefully, works well and is quite therapeutic. Palm honing is to be avoided...

 

[StillShaving]

... I started this morning's shave with a dozen passes on horsehide, stopped after WTG and added another 70 or so passes for the final passes. The XTG and ATG went way more smoothly than the WTG pass. Which is pretty much what I expected.

I cannot disagree with your overall response regarding this topic. I can't even really disagree with the sentenced quoted here as I suspect you are also bringing in other experiences when making this statement. However my quibble is that a second pass is different from the first pass, and is usually a lot easier. So I would not necessarily give full credit to the extra stropping between passes. For instance, today I used a DE bladed shavette that had a somewhat spent blade installed (I had a second shavette sitting out and forgot that it had a fresh blade installed last time) and found it tugged a good deal, much more than I expected. Rather than change blades I continued and did a second and third pass which included XTG/ATG is some areas and those passes were much smoother, as if the blade still had some life left in it.

 

[5whiskey]

I have tested stropping lap count, and I can definitely say I noticed a big improve,emt going from 20 laps to 50. Granted, that was when I was learning the SR way 2 years ago starting out. Still, to a point, more than 20 laps on leather was much better.

 

[Eastcoast30]

After a major honing session, say with a newly acquired razor, I go anywhere from 50 to 150 laps on the strop. And I see a great improvement. After that, 20 laps before each shave and 20 after. Nit saying this is grail, just works well for me.

 

[EspressoAndAftershave]

Subtitled on YouTube :

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The entire awesome playlist.

Enjoy!

 

[5whiskey]

After a major honing session, say with a newly acquired razor, I go anywhere from 50 to 150 laps on the strop. And I see a great improvement. After that, 20 laps before each shave and 20 after. Nit saying this is grail, just works well for me.

Which isn't far off the 50 that I do between shaves... 40 laps on the strop is double what I used to do, and I can say that 20 was not sufficient for me at that time. I actually want to test strop laps again.

 

[Frank Shaves]

For new edges, I go 25 on linen followed by 50+ on the leather. Seems to do the job. The, after each shave, 15 on linen plus 25 on leather, and 25 on leather before each shave. And we're back to 50 on leather.

 

[PintoPlain]

I'm going to throw a spanner in the works here. With a hollow ground razor I go by sound. Be that 5 laps or 105 laps. Near wedge, quarter or half hollow razors, I strop until it feels right. I can't really explain how or why it changes, it just seems to do so to me. Again, I don't really count laps.

I have found some steels require more stropping before the sound or feel seems right though. Using X number of laps per razor doesn't work for me.

I don't palm strop, but do strop on my forearms when honing.

 

[rbscebu]

I'm going to throw a spanner in the works here. With a hollow ground razor I go by sound. Be that 5 laps or 105 laps. Near wedge, quarter or half hollow razors, I strop until it feels right. I can't really explain how or why it changes, it just seems to do so to me. Again, I don't really count laps.

I have found some steels require more stropping before the sound or feel seems right though. Using X number of laps per razor doesn't work for me.

I don't palm strop, but do strop on my forearms when honing.

I am the same way and strop by feel/sound. It is an acquired perception that, for me, developed over a year or so. For n00bies to stropping, I recommend lap counting; 50 to 60 on clean leather before each shave and about 6 to 10 on clean cloth after a shave.

Usable strop length also comes into play. The above lap counts are for a strop with about 450mm of of usable length. Some of my strops have a usable length of about 300mm so I would up the number of laps accordingly.

 

[PintoPlain]

I am the same way and strop by feel/sound. It is an acquired perception that, for me, developed over a year or so. For n00bies to stropping, I recommend lap counting; 50 to 60 on clean leather before each shave and about 6 to 10 on clean cloth after a shave.

Usable strop length also comes into play. The above lap counts are for a strop with about 450mm of of usable length. Some of my strops have a usable length of about 300mm so I would up the number of laps accordingly.

For a noob, you're probably right. My strop has about 500mm useable length, so one lap probably equates to two laps on a commercial strop. I have really come to like my home made 'roo strop.

 

[R7photo]

Eastcoast30 appreciate the tips, gonna give it a try
Reference vid by the doctor with your stone
Amazing his skills he has
Can you advise what stone dr used in video?

Just shaved off my ozuku using method dr did in video, water only and screaming sharp edge
Only my stone never slurry like stone in vid,just slight slurry
Ozuka 5+
Great edge
Going to try palm stropping if dont cut my arm fingers off
We appreciate the posts and tips
15 months in sr shaving