Thread: Rolling the edge while stropping?

I've seen references to "rolling the edge" as a noob mistake made in stropping in a lot of threads. What I haven't seen is what exactly this means. While I'm on the subject, I've also seen "lifting the edge" at the end of the stroke as another mistake, but I don't see how that would cause a problem. sorry if I seem full of questions, I'm still learning the jargon here.

Imagine the razor in motion on the strop, keeping the edge in contact with the strop and then lifting the spine off. The edge can roll, or bend if you do this. Essentially it is what can happen when too much pressure is applied to the edge of the razor, as opposed to the spine of the razor, while moving it along a strop.

James.

If you turn the razor the wrong way while stropping, ie turn it so the edge stays in contact with the strop rather than the spine, then you're bound to roll the edge. "Rolling" being to bend the edge with direct pressure so the very leading part of the edge, probably only a small fraction of a millimetre, is no longer straight in line with the rest of the blade. If you do it repeatedly you'll be bending the edge back and forth and it'll behave like any other piece of metal that gets bent back and forth and break. That's bad mojo. You can also do it by putting to much pressure on the edge while stropping or not having the strop taught so it sags badly.
Lifting the edge off the strop while it's still moving opens you up to the possibility of putting the edge back down on the strop travelling the wrong way and that's just going to go badly.

Yes, that is one potential problem with lifting the edge - cut strop. But, lifting the edge while the razor is still moving (but ensuring the spine stays in contact) is one of the secrets to smooth and fluent stropping, which in turn is how you develop speed. The secret is all about timing it right so that you don't nick the strop by setting the edge back down too early. But that is a slightly more advanced area that is best left until you are comfortable with the basic stropping technique.

James.

You can lift the edge off the strop at the end of the stroke as long as the spine remains on the strop, and the edge is not put back onto the strop until the direction of the stroke has been reversed.

Take a look here: Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Wiki
Give some attention to the videos at the end.

I find it helpfull when stropping to never concentrate on the edge,always the spine,try not to even think about the edge,works for me.

wow tons on information. thanks for all the replies! the whole reason for my confusion was how people make these errors. i kinda figured as long as i kept the spine in contact with the strop and applied no downward pressure aside from the razor's own weight i would be good. i'll check out those vids just to be sure XD

Originally Posted by rhaegar

wow tons on information. thanks for all the replies! the whole reason for my confusion was how people make these errors. i kinda figured as long as i kept the spine in contact with the strop and applied no downward pressure aside from the razor's own weight i would be good.

That's about the gist of it. Of course, when experienced, you will develop a better feel for what you're doing, when to use pressure and (obviously) a faster stroke. But for now it's best to go at a comfortable pace, concentrating on flipping the blade correctly with minimal wrist movement.

I'm not sure if you've seen Sham's stropping vid, but check it out.

Thanks for posting the link, Ryan. I was practicing method #2...doing it Sham's way is much easier. It's best to learn to do things the "right" way in the beginning so that you don't have to unlearn the "wrong" way later on after you've committed it to muscle memory.