Thread: Stropping Habit

Ladies and gentlemen:

I was stropping my razor this morning when it occurred to me that I use the full length of the hanging strop rather than a portion of it. Starting close to the hardware, I strop south to north and then down: that is from the belly away and then down.

I figure that extra inch or two of the strop gives me the full advantage of my strop overall.

I have seen videos where gentlemen use only part of the strop: some mostly the middle, some more of one end than the other.

Of course, no set rule requires one use a specific length of the hanging strop. Nor is one on the books about which end of the strop should be the start. What gentlemen prefer is what matters.

This raised my curiosity about your stropping habit: do you habitually use the full length of the strop or just a part of it. I know when placed next to all the major issues flooding the world these days, this little pimple of a question does not amount to much. I was just curious.

Regards,
Obie

Hi Obie,

I've moved this thread to the stropping forum, it should get a little more coverage here..!

To your question, I try to use as much of the strop as I can as I'm covering more leather that way. If I only use 8 inches of the strop I'm covering 8x60=480 inches of leather but if I use the full 17 inches then I get 1020 inches of coverage. More bang for my buck..!

All the best,

Stuart

I use just about every inch of the strop. I'm not sure whether
or not that's because my stroke corresponds to the standard
size of the strop or whether my stroke is limited by it.

- Scott

All I can get. I like to use the full length of the strop.

I use most of the strop but try to be careful because if you get too close to the hardware you could nick your razor and if you have that pretty gold lettering on your strop you don't want to wear it off do you?

Obie,

Interesting post

The back and forward motion of the arm when stropping only approximates linear motion for about 10 - 15 inches dependent on arm length.

Persons new to stropping will therefore find it easier to keep the blade flat on the strop if they restrict the use of the strop to that 10 -15 inches. I would be interested to hear if others think this is cr*p (or not !)

Have fun !

best regards

Russ

Obie,

I use most of the strop, but I do not maximize the length of my stroke to use all the leather or fabric that's available. On the away stroke, I've rolled the razor off my thumb nail (on a barber style square end strop) and concluded that compromizing the edge isn't worth a couple of inches of extra stroke length - I can take a few more strokes to compensate for the length not used.

I use what feels good with few rules: I don't strop on maker's stamp (feels weird). I try to start at close to the bottom. I use whatever stroke length feels good in the posture and try not to overextend the stroke.

For newbies it might be interesting to note that the most nicks I did on my starter, came from flipping ie at the ends of the strokes. So, do use the whole length to refrain to putting a nick in the middle of the expensive leather thingy.

Full length. Every inch counts .....

maxi

Hiya Obie ~ I don't use much strop "real estate" at all maybe 6-8 ".
My finishing strop (palm of left hand ) only allows for a stroke half that length