Thread: narrow strop pivots and swivels while stropping

Hi all,


I'm still fairly new (2 or 3 months) at wet-shaving and something is bothering me when I strop.

I have a Filly Strop (from RupRazor, 2" or 2.5" wide, can't remember) and another one, also less than 3" wide. So I do X-patterned strokes (or passes) on both of them. I strop from left to right and right to left. In both cases I start the X on the heel and not on the nose (I bring the razor laterally from further to closer to me).

Now, my problem is that, especially when I go from "my hand" to "the wall", at the end of the stroke (i.e. on the side that is tied to the wall (or hook)), the strop flips (or pivots, or revolves) slightly, due to the pressure or weight of the razor. Sorry if it doesn't make sense, it is a bit hard to explain without showing...

To quote another thread (Stropping issues):

Originally Posted by MistressNomad

This *might* be related to a problem I've noticed while stropping. I have a really hard time keeping the strop from wanting to swivel around the attachment point. So it's flat and even where my fingers are holding the end, but slightly twisted (usually away from me) at the top.

I hold the strop across my body, and stroke from left to right.

I would suspect this is causing uneven stropping across the blade, so some bits are getting stropped too little, others too hard, and others just right.

How do I get that bloody strop to stay put?

This makes it harder for me to keep everything flat and therefore to keep a good, constant, and uniform contact between the strop and the razor.

If anybody had some advices, I'd be interested.
(Feel free also to ask me to re-explain if it's not clear)


Thanks
Christophe

Thats shouldnt be a problem if the strop is tight, or perhaps your x strokes are to wide, you only need 1/2 inch sidelay move from start to finish.
If you start from the heel, when the nose is on the strop your stroke sidelay is over hope thats clear.

Yup had this problem too. I found that I used too much pressure when I was stropping. Not sure if thats your problem but thats what remedied it for me. Good luck!

It's easy to have a slight twist in a 3 inch strop, usually because the swivel doesn't twist freely do to the pressure of pulling it tight. I find that a quick jerk at a right angle of the attachment point and then still holding it taut as I bring it back to the stropping position helps. This is with a 3 inch strop. I find it difficult to keep a blade level on a 2 inch hone, let alone trying to do x-patterns on a 2 inch strop with slack or no slack and a pivot point at the hook. I would, if you can afford the cost get a 3 inch strop and ditch the x-patterns on the strop. A lot of the more experienced users may disagree with me, but the key word is experience. When I have that, I may want to try it with a more challenging narrower strop, but I don't think so. Hope this is of some help. Howard

Ps: A lighter stroke stropping is beneficial to a sharper edge depending on the grind. More steel, maybe a little more pressure depending on the bevel.