Thread: Purpose of Canvas/Linen

The wiki says that the purpose of Canvas/Linen is to heat up the blade prior to stropping on the leather. Is this true or is there some debate about that?

I want to buy a strop soon, and I'm trying to decide if my first should be The Filly or this one that has a canvas:

Horsehide Leather Strop

Is a canvas important for keeping your edge sharp?

Well, That's what they say, Linen or Cotton, Canvas, any kind of cloth material will heat up the edge on the blade, and it is recommended prior to hitting the leather. With most of us, it's personal preference. Some use Linen, Some the Cotton/Canvas type stuff. Honing compound can also be applied to different mediums.
SRD has a Hard Pressed Wool Felt strop too which is excellent for the Diamond Sprays.
For a beginner, either one you choose is fine. I'd go with the one that has the cotton/canvas strop with it. Ken's products are excellent, I have one of his Paladin's.
I think the Fily doesn't come with a cotton or canvas side. Chances are, when you start, you may nick or cut your strop. So, either choice would be good for a beginner....
A normal stropping would be like, 25 lapps back and forth on the canvas, and 50 on the leather..Something like that....

Welcome to SRP....Rich

That article is marked as a stub for a good reason. I encourage all knowledgeable senior members to enhance it: Razor Strops - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Though I use linen before leather every time I strop I've always been a sceptical as to this theory and so will be interested in the replies. I strop on linen, lather and then strop on leather so don't receive such benefit anyway but, when I've stropped on one immediately after the other, I've not noticed a difference in the usual quality of the edge. I think that the linen does perform a purpose, ie in giving a slightly more abrasive polish prior to the finer one of the leather. All totally subjective I'm afraid. My edges do seem to keep their sharpness longer with regular linen use and certainly seem smoother if I go a hundred or so laps immediately after honing.

Don't know if anyone's ever played with thermometers on the blade after linen/canvas though so I could be wrong.

That's the theory, but I've always been skeptical. (a) I don't think the linen is capable of putting much heat into the edge (b) any heat will be lost shortly after stropping on the leather unless the leather is also capable of generating that same level of friction in which case why bother with the linen and (c) the sorts of temperatures necessary to change the steel enough to improve the stropping are probably enough to affect the temper.

I think the canvas is slightly abrasive, enough to knock off the softer oxidized steel, and maybe enough to slowly sharpen the hard steel as well. Most of the benefit of the linen comes over long stretches of time though. It won't help today's shave much, but used daily it will keep the blade sharp for months.

Apart from possibly being ever so very slightly abrasive, a good linen (or canvas) protects the fine leather surface of your strop. Every now and then, someone looking to edges with magnification reports that his stropping causes stray scratches on the bevel of his razors.
What happens is that occasional debris (oxidation - harder that the actual steel -, microscopical chips from edge deterioration) gets stuck into the surface of the leather. The idea of a good linen is to use a fabric that can embed those particles into the depths of its structure, where they are out of reach of the edge.
So I have read in a book, and it still makes sense to me.

But I concur that a good linen has some edge shaping abilities of its own.

Bart.

Originally Posted by Bart

Apart from possibly being ever so very slightly abrasive, a good linen (or canvas) protects the fine leather surface of your strop. Every now and then, someone looking to edges with magnification reports that his stropping causes stray scratches on the bevel of his razors.
What happens is that occasional debris (oxidation - harder that the actual steel -, microscopical chips from edge deterioration) gets stuck into the surface of the leather. The idea of a good linen is to use a fabric that can embed those particles into the depths of its structure, where they are out of reach of the edge.
So I have read in a book, and it still makes sense to me.

But I concur that a good linen has some edge shaping abilities of its own.

Bart.

This makes sense to me as well.

I think that linen does a better job of removing oxidation and keeping the edge sharper than canvas. Of course, this is based on the experience of a guy with less than a full year of straight razor use, so take that for what it's worth.

However, I don't buy the heating the edge theory before the leather (see disclaimer above ). I'd be interested to see someone experiment with a thermometer on the edge after stropping on linen.

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

According to a post by Zethlent, the fabric/canvas/linen part of a strop is used for removing oil from the edge of the razor. Zethlent quoted this from the strop maker that he visited. This happens to be the most logical explanation of the purpose of fabric/canvas/linen part of a strop, that I have heard.

So is it your assertion that this is the only value of the linen/cotton part of a strop?

After quite a bit of experimentation with my canvas strop, the only effect I can detect seems to be that it cleans the blade of debris. Let's say that I am using CrO or Diamond on balsa wood strop, and I clean the blade with cloth and test with the HHT in multiple locations all along the blade. Then, I take say 4 passes on the canvas strop using an X pattern and with the slightest pressure. When I go back to the HHT the hair is cut noticeably easier. It has happened enough times, and in an easily reproducible manner, that I have some confidence that the strop is removing debris from the blade edge.

The underlying assumption is that 4 passes on canvas is not removing metal. And, with the extremely light pressure I use, I can't believe it is shaping the micro edge, or that it is heating up the metal.

If it is true that the canvas is removing debris, then it's use preceding the leather strop makes sense. For it would ensure that the blade metal is contacting the leather, rather than a microscopic layer of debris.

My guess...

Originally Posted by Bart

What happens is that occasional debris (oxidation - harder that the actual steel -, microscopical chips from edge deterioration)

How hard is oxidized steel?