Thread: Average stropping speed on Hanging strops

Hey guys I was thinking about this today, and thought this might be a good thing to actually figure out between all of us...

Strop on your hanging leather strop for 30 seconds, time it out, and count it out, as best as you can..
Now for those of us that hone professionally DO NOT do the high speed thing OK, I know my stropping speed is higher when I am stropping in the razors after honing, then when I am stropping my personal razor before a leisurely Sunday shave... Use the normal speed for this poll please

And be honest this is not a race, let's try and get a real number here for possible use for giving to the new guys...

Let's also ask that only people that have been Straight Razor shaving at least 3 months and feel confident in their stropping abilities answer the poll...

I left the names posting hidden, I am hoping for honesty here not bragging rights

Thanks In Advance

I will put up some numbers and will add more if needed either faster or slower rates, I am going to try it on my shave tomorrow morning....

What length stroke?

I do 1 pass back and forth per second, so my most used speed is 30 passes per 30 sec.
I try to avoid going faster because I can get sloppy, stropping is very boring exercise for me.

Depends on mood, but a comfortable stropping speed is about 20-25/30 sec for me. I go faster only for razors that were freshly honed to speed up things.

It depends on the razor. Some feel really comfortable in the hand and can quickly be flipped at the top of the stroke whereas others are not so comfortable and take longer. At best, probably one stroke per second and at worst one stroke every second and a half.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

What length stroke?

I was trying to qualify that too Dylan, then decided that the law of averages would absorb the guys with short strops as well as those with much longer strops

Seems that the hanging strops I have, average at about 16 inches of actual stropping surface ... But I was just thinking too that actual length of the stropping stroke would become a function of biometrics at a certain point wouldn't it ??????

I figured about once a second a while back. Now when I strop I don't count laps I just strop for a specific period of time. Makes it easier for me to pay attention. I usually do 40-50 on fabric the either 30 or 60 on leather. Sometimes if I think the blade may be at its refresh state, I do 120 on leather.
You should add to the poll how many strops you've cut getting to the level of stropping you are now at.

22 strokes in 30sec for me. That's normal relaxed pace.

I voted 20-30. I only strop fast if time is an issue.

I tend to start with the strop fairly taut, with faster laps. As I progress, I slacken the strop a little, and also ease back on the pace; I don't exactly know how or why I started doing this, but it works really well for me. Anyways, I tested it four times, and I averaged 36 strokes.