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You Told Me This Would Happen

Maybe a few, but those guys take the hobby too seriously. There’s a time and a place for everything. There’s a section of this forum dedicated to Modern Shaving Systems. A lot of folks prefer Bic Disposables for travel.

I actually hold on to my Mach 3 for travel. It gives me a better shave than the Bic disposable. And I dont want any of my razor investments confiscated at an airport when travelling.
 
Based on the pictures @SparkyLB has shown, that is what my face looked like after I used a Bic disposable.

On a serious note, that looks like that will be my future once I receive the strops from Tony Miller later this week. Will start with the value strop. Then after I get my technique down, I will move on to the premium strops. Those are some impressive slices into the leather.
 
I though I was the exception. I never cut my first strop, a Windrose XL. After about a year of daily stropping, the only damage to it were a few deep scratches, that happened after I modified a Gold Dollar. The grind edges on the French point was so sharp at the back, that it scratched the strop. Taught me to round them a bit.

Then I bough my first expensive strop, a beautiful Malevski strop, and about three months in, my daughter came bouncing in while I was stropping, with all the energy of an 8 year old. Worried that she may run into me, I stopped halfway through, with the blade on the strop. Halfway through the 20th "Don't come near me when I have a razor in my hands" talk, I felt the razor cutting the strop. A good half inch cut on the edge, about halfway on the strop.

Lesson learned. When you are distracted, lift the blade of the strop.
 
I guess I was thinking it and didn't say it. The plan was, "It will be my DE until my new leather comes."

No need. To my surprise, there's no damage to the blade. I used my leather couch (per my other "strop" thread) to strop, ran it through a progression of balsa strops, stropped again on my couch, and got a very pleasant shave.

As for cartridges, not for me.

Thanks for the support, folks.
 
I though I was the exception. I never cut my first strop, a Windrose XL. After about a year of daily stropping, the only damage to it were a few deep scratches, that happened after I modified a Gold Dollar. The grind edges on the French point was so sharp at the back, that it scratched the strop. Taught me to round them a bit.

Then I bough my first expensive strop, a beautiful Malevski strop, and about three months in, my daughter came bouncing in while I was stropping, with all the energy of an 8 year old. Worried that she may run into me, I stopped halfway through, with the blade on the strop. Halfway through the 20th "Don't come near me when I have a razor in my hands" talk, I felt the razor cutting the strop. A good half inch cut on the edge, about halfway on the strop.

Lesson learned. When you are distracted, lift the blade of the strop.
Great story. I find this past is all about "me time." There's no room for distraction. My mishap occurred with NO distractions.
 
Two incidents. The first cut happened closest to the end (3rd and 4th pic). While my brain processed what I had just done, I either flipped the blade early, or not at all--jury's still out. That's when I caused the second, more intense slice you see in the first and second pic towards the other side. In the second picture, I bent the strop to make the cut stand out. Not terribly deep, but deep enough. It's a 3" strop.

Thanks for the shots and the explanations. That strop is cut a bit, isn't it? Back to practice in the meantime. When I started out, I was getting unexplained nicks at the top right and bottom right ends of the strop (I am right-handed). Never enough to trash a strop from further use, but it did bother me. After some consultation with an old-timer, who has since passed away, it turned out that my problem had to do with how I was gripping the shank of the razor when I stropped. What I had been doing, in watching the videos that people had posted, was to grip the shank with my thumb and forefinger from top to bottom (as opposed to the brand-marked sides) during the pass, then rolling the razor like a pencil during the flip. This meant that I had less control during the pass and during the flip. Instead, I was counseled to grip the shank from side to side (in the area of the branding), biassed towards the edge with the thumb, and make the flip by turning the blade with my thumb and forefinger and a slight turn of the hand so that the thumb was in the same orientation with the edge on each side. Since adopting this many years ago, it is rare for me to cut or nick a strop.

There used to be a good video by Sham that explained this, but it has since been taken down.

Edit: That major cut seems more to the top, so maybe you can salvage 2/3 of the strop from the bottom? For practice, it might be beneficial to make a paddle or bench strop out of it. Cut the piece to, say, 12" x 2-1/2" or 8" x 3" with a utility knife and glue it to some plywood cut to the same size. Add some plastic footing underneath the plywood and you have a bench strop. Useful for knives especially.
 
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I need to treat this hobby like my days as a young journeyman at the nuclear facility. All business. No fiddling about. Act like everyone's watching you.

I let my guard down. I'm not beating myself up here--I'm over it and I'll do my best to not allow it again--but I got complacent. That's deadly in a discipline where a mishap can mean the emergency room. What's done is done. I need to do my darnedest to see to it that it's not "done again."

In about a week I'm about to embark upon something really special and I've got a mentor who's going to help me. I've got nothing but good stuff ahead. I just have to keep up my end of the bargain.
 
Only one strop?

Before my stropping technique settled down, I cut up my first two Chinese strops beyond repair over my first 6 months of SR shaving. I then spent another year of cut-free stropping (still a Chinese strop) before I felt confident enough to purchase a TM strop. So far, so good.

I've cut into two of my strops in the last ten years. Hoping by now, the third new strop in as much time will be safe now. After all that practice I sure hope so.
 
I need to treat this hobby like my days as a young journeyman at the nuclear facility. All business. No fiddling about. Act like everyone's watching you.

I let my guard down. I'm not beating myself up here--I'm over it and I'll do my best to not allow it again--but I got complacent. That's deadly in a discipline where a mishap can mean the emergency room. What's done is done. I need to do my darnedest to see to it that it's not "done again."

In about a week I'm about to embark upon something really special and I've got a mentor who's going to help me. I've got nothing but good stuff ahead. I just have to keep up my end of the bargain.

You didn't have to admit your mistakes here in public but you did. It took guts to post those pictures here and admit like the rest of us at one time or another, you made a mistake. Your contrition is to be admired and not laughed at. Other new straight razor users will hopefully learn from all of us by our mistakes when we are brave enough to share them here in public.

This too shall pass.
 
Here are a couple of shots from an old barber's manual that show the position of the thumb on the shank during stropping. (Difficult to see the turn of the hand during the flip.)

Stropping--Position-of-the-Thumb.jpg
 
Thanks for the shots and the explanations. That strop is cut a bit, isn't it? Back to practice in the meantime. When I started out, I was getting unexplained nicks at the top right and bottom right ends of the strop (I am right-handed). Never enough to trash a strop from further use, but it did bother me. After some consultation with an old-timer, who has since passed away, it turned out that my problem had to do with how I was gripping the shank of the razor when I stropped. What I had been doing, in watching the videos that people had posted, was to grip the shank with my thumb and forefinger from top to bottom (as opposed to the brand-marked sides) during the pass, then rolling the razor like a pencil during the flip. This meant that I had less control during the pass and during the flip. Instead, I was counseled to grip the shank from side to side (in the area of the branding), biassed towards the edge with the thumb, and make the flip by turning the blade with my thumb and forefinger and a slight turn of the hand so that the thumb was in the same orientation with the edge on each side. Since adopting this many years ago, it is rare for me to cut or nick a strop.

There used to be a good video by Sham that explained this, but it has since been taken down.

Edit: That major cut seems more to the top, so maybe you can salvage 2/3 of the strop from the bottom? For practice, it might be beneficial to make a paddle or bench strop out of it. Cut the piece to, say, 12" x 2-1/2" with a utility knife and glue it to some plywood cut to the same size. Add some plastic footing underneath the plywood and you have a bench strop. Useful for knives especially.
Thanks for the advice. I was looking forward to your reply. If I understand you, I was doing it the same way. Are you saying you should not feel the jimps except when you roll? I might just buy a travel strop one day. I need leather for the faces of the vise on my wood-working bench. This is high quality stuff. It will be like putting a tuxedo on a pig, but I’m gonna make lemonade!
 
Here are a couple of shots from an old barber's manual that show the position of the thumb on the shank during stropping. (Difficult to see the turn of the hand during the flip.)

View attachment 1434637
Yeah. Now that you posted some pics, I see the error in my ways. One achieves far better purchase on the tang when the grip covers more real estate. Such a simple thing. Never would have thought of that on my own. I was holding the tang from the jimps! What a maroon Thank you! That should make it far less awkward.
 
Yeah. Now that you posted some pics, I see the error in my ways. One achieves far better purchase on the tang when the grip covers more real estate. Such a simple thing. Never would have thought of that on my own. I was holding the tang from the jimps! What a maroon Thank you! That should make it far less awkward.

Yes. If you were holding the shank from top to bottom (with or without jimps as the case may be), the leather is controlling things, making for unexplained nicks and cuts. Holding from the sides, or where there is more real estate, you are in charge.

As for feeling the jimps during the flip, the thumb sort of passes over the bottom of the shank during the flip to get to the other side before the next pass, but that's about it. The forefinger makes contact with the top of the shank just below the first knuckle from the tip of the finger, so there isn't much sensation there.

Paddle strops make good travel strops. I would think you would have enough material from the first strop to make one. A shame to let good leather go to waste!
 
Yes. If you were holding the shank from top to bottom (with or without jimps as the case may be), the leather is controlling things, making for unexplained nicks and cuts. Holding from the sides, or where there is more real estate, you are in charge.

As for feeling the jimps during the flip, the thumb sort of passes over the bottom of the shank during the flip to get to the other side before the next pass, but that's about it. The forefinger makes contact with the top of the shank just below the first knuckle from the tip of the finger, so there isn't much sensation there.

Paddle strops make good travel strops. I would think you would have enough material from the first strop to make one. A shame to let good leather go to waste!
Just read your post again. BOY was I making things tough on myself. It's like I was trying to learn how to ride a horse side-saddle. I imagine once I straddle the animal I might be able to sit on it while it moves!!

Again, thank you so much. That's great advice. Might seem like not much to you, but it's game-changing for me.
 
I realised something today and I am sorry if it is useless comment: the balance and fine motor control necessary to shave with a straight razor directly transfers over to stropping. I think both will improve in parallel over time. The simple ability to always have the razor moving before the blade touches down is something that I take for granted that I realise others are still working on. Same with automatically lifting before stopping, something I trained myself to do. I also think playing around with body positioning, just like when shaving, may lead to easier stropping.
 
Just read your post again. BOY was I making things tough on myself. It's like I was trying to learn how to ride a horse side-saddle. I imagine once I straddle the animal I might be able to sit on it while it moves!!

Again, thank you so much. That's great advice. Might seem like not much to you, but it's game-changing for me.

You're welcome. I hope it works out for you. Practice makes perfect. Go slow and careful with the flip in starting out. Also, if you have acquired a beater razor or two by now to "restore," if it's not too dirty or rusty, you could dull the edge (or whatever constitutes an edge) and use that one to practice with to get things down before using the sharpened blade.

Whether or not that edge is rolled, as mentioned above, is another matter. If it is, perhaps you might see if Jarrod at TSS would be willing to rehone it and put you back to square one again.
 
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