Thread: Stropping only on pasted strops

Why is the standard to strop on plain leather every day and hone every few months instead of honing once and maintaining indefinitely by doing only a few strokes every day on a pasted strop?

It seems like it's a choice between letting the edge slowly deteriorate until the shave is noticeably/significantly worse and then doing a full honing session/sending it off and just stropping a few times per day on a pasted strop and always having a 'fresh' edge.

I was gonna speculate as to the responses I'd get, and give my thoughts on them, but I'll just see what you guys actually say first

When you strop with pastes you tend to round the edge. It is still effective but you will reach a point where you will not get very many shaves out of a stropping. When I first started I had my razor honed and bought a 8EE diamond plate and a 4 sided paddle and had 2.0,1.0,0.5, and 0.25 micron pastes. Worked very well and I could keep a blade going for almost a year but eventually one has to reset the bevel if you want a really a keen edge that will hold up. I then bought a 16K Shapton and started giving my razors a final stropping of 0.5 Green Chromium for about 6 strokes and eliminated the 1.0 paste. What I found is that now I was able to get a longer lasting blade and smoother shave. I think the 16K, which is 1.0 micron, let the blade keep its bevel better before going to the pastes. I now only have to drop back to a Coticule for about 10 strokes and work up with very few stokes on each step. Seems like this is happening about every 3 months or so. I may be to particular with the sharpness and smoothness of my razors but to each his own.

I am sure others with more experience will weigh in but the important thing is to use something that works for you. I have found for the money the 4 sided strop was cost effective and worked very well for me when I was a total noob.

Take care,
Richard

Some guys did exactly what you are talking about. I don't because I think it will, over time, waste more razor than periodic honing. In part because of what the above poster was talking about but also because the razor will be seeing far more hone time than one that is just honed up once it dulls.

I think stropping in general is the least understood part of our hobby, and more people other then just mparker and AFdavis need to do some serious experimenting....

I have for a long time believed the stropping on pasted strops creates a concave edge and eventually you have to hone...I am not as convinced of this any more.
We here at SRP tend to be a hone based forum, we are all about the hones, strops are a distant second, the red headed step child of keeping our razors sharp... I think we are going to eventually find that the strops and stropping in general are much more important then we realized....

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I think stropping in general is the least understood part of our hobby, and more people other then just mparker and AFdavis need to do some serious experimenting....

I have for a long time believed the stropping on pasted strops creates a concave edge and eventually you have to hone...I am not as convinced of this any more.
We here at SRP tend to be a hone based forum, we are all about the hones, strops are a distant second, the red headed step child of keeping our razors sharp... I think we are going to eventually find that the strops and stropping in general are much more important then we realized....

I think you're right Glen. I have followed mparker's and Alan's posts on stropping since I've been around. I must have read this thread here more times than I could count. I have been really concentrating on my stroke with stropping and not doing it on auto pilot . I personally only use a pasted strop, paddle, flatbed, blasa.... occasionally if I feel the razor 'needs' it. My daily driver is clean leather and webbed fabric.

I agree completely, Glen. I never bought into the argument that a pasted edge needs more attention to keep it keen than a honed edge. I'm not saying that I don't believe that necessarily, my argument to that is that I don't see increased maintenance as a serious detraction. My pasted paddles are easily accessible. A few passes on them to refresh more often that a re-hone, I don't see the downside.

I'm experimenting a ton with pastes right now and intend on exploring it a bunch more. I'm still cautious on how I feel about pastes in general (other than chrome ox which for me is a proven ingredient in my honing process) but time will solidify my experiences with the pastes.

Chris L

If you strop on something fairly rigid, like balsa or pine the rounding problem would be reduced. You could also use lapping films on glass which should completely get rid of it.

Riooso, are you saying that you did this for a year (on leather?) and that by the end the final edge was obtuse enough to shave noticeably worse? Did you measure how much more obtuse it was?

I think because honing on a typical hone is the classic way to maintain an edge people tend to kind of look down on the strop way to maintain an edge. So we tend to look for bad stories about what happens if you only use a strop down the road. Like Glen I'm not so sure about the negatives we hear about using a strop. I don't think I have ever actually read a post here where someone has said gee I've been maintaining my edge for a year and a half on a strop and now my razor won't shave worth a damn and now I had to use a hone and its great again. Yes I've seen pictures of edges and stories concerning theory but no real experiences.

I'm thinking more and more it's an all roads lead to Rome type of thing.

Originally Posted by jimmyh

If you strop on something fairly rigid, like balsa or pine the rounding problem would be reduced. You could also use lapping films on glass which should completely get rid of it.

Riooso, are you saying that you did this for a year (on leather?) and that by the end the final edge was obtuse enough to shave noticeably worse? Did you measure how much more obtuse it was?

The strop that I use is a Tony Miller 4 sided strop and it has leather on each side. What happens is that pretty soon you end with a razor that will not hold an edge very long at all, like 4 shaves instead of at least 10. Stropping is a dragging motion and honing is a cutting action, very different methods of sharpening.

I consider a 4 sided strop and a 8EE diamond plate one of the very best ways for a beginner to keep a razor very sharp, and at the same time the total investment is about $100. You will learn a lot and when it is time to move up to some hones you will have been shaving with a straight for at least 7 months. I consider this absolutely key to straight shaving, get the new guy shaving and liking it. This is not magic! Straight shaving is learned but the last thing a new guy needs to worry about is getting into stones, he is overwhelmed already.

I still use 0.50,0.25 diamond and Chromium pastes to finish my honing session. I only use about 6 laps on the Chromium because I don't want to completely kill the 0.25 paste edge. As I stated earlier I got a 16K Shapton (0.92 microns) to replace the 1.0 diamond paste. I spent the money gradually and picked what I wanted as my knowledge grew. I eventually got a Coticule and I really feel that I am pretty much done for a while. All the while I have been getting absolutely fantastic shaves because from the very beginning I have shaved with very sharp razors, I mean sharp!


Take Care,
Richard

Thanks for the responses.

. What happens is that pretty soon you end with a razor that will not hold an edge very long at all, like 4 shaves instead of at least 10.

You mean pasted strop then unpasted strop for 10 shaves then repeat and after a while you only get 4 shaves between pasted strops?

I'm having a hard time seeing what could be going on there, but if you do a couple passes on the pasted strop each time, then it doesn't matter if the edge can make it 'only 4 shaves'.