Thread: When to "palm" the strop.

Silly question:
Do you rub the strop with your palm for 50x before you take the razor to the webbing, or after the webbing and before the leather.

The concern:
If I hit the strop before I do the linen, then the leather will cool before I get to it. If I hit the strop after the linen, then the blade will cool...

Am I being too anal?

Originally Posted by jymie71

Am I being too anal?

Probably. The idea behind rubbing your palm over the strop is that this helps keep the leather treated with the natural oils in your skin. I think most of us that do it at all do so before starting to strop. You could do it after without any problems. Or you could not do it at all and treat your strop with some neetsfoot once in a while.

According to Lynn, who first introduced me to this technique, rubbing the strop with your palm 50-100 times not only conditions your leather strop as Bill S points out, it also warms the leather a bit to improve the draw.

If you rub the leather strop after stropping on your linen and just before stropping on your leather, it shouldn't cool down before your strop you ought to be ok.

That's what I do.