Thread: "Scratches" at edge of strop

I noticing something a bit "odd" this morning when stropping.

I have a 3" SRD red latigo strop. It appears to be perfectly flat and untwisted, and the blade looks to be staying nice and even, flt during my stroke. But, I've noticed scrapes or scratches on the very edges of the strop when I finished up. Not nicks, and no performance issues with the blade. Anyone else had this happen? Anything to worry about/ adjust?

Do you have file work on your spine? if so that is the likely culprit. It happens all the time with my dovo Bismark and my 1920's Boker, both of which have file work.

Nope, all my spines are pretty darn smooth.

I was thinking that I may have been slightly torquing the razor to that side, but after slowing down and really paying attention, it was still happening.

so looking at your strop your scratches are running East to West or North to south? maybe post a pic?

North South, mainly on the west side of the strop

I'll try to grab a pic when I get home.

I used to get that with mine. Sometimes worse than a scratch. I was holding the tang with my thumbpad along one side and the fold of the first digit of my forefinger on the other side. I did some reading and someone whose opinion I respected said that the razor was best held with the thumbpad on the bottom of the tang and the forefinger tip on the top. I also kind of lightly cradle the scales with the three fingertips, middle, ring and little finger.

Took awhile to get used to the new grip and I had to go slower at first but in a short while I was used to it and up to speed. I don't know if that was what fixed my problem but I no longer tore up the edge of my strop. BTW, the only area that I was having trouble with was down towards the end of the strop a few inches forward of where my left hand was holding it. Hope this is of some help.

I'll have to give that a shot. Much appreciated.

Another thing that helped me get used to it was something in the 1961 barber manual help files .... practice flipping the razor, with the new grip, without stropping. When it becomes fluid take it to the strop.

Yeah, I've been trying a variety of grips to find whats most comfortable and gets the job done. The Wife already things I'm crazy, so I suppose sitting around learning to flip a new way will only add to that.