Hand stropping?

Jeltz

Jeltz

Joined
Monday January 4, 2010
Location
Wiltshire
I've seen the term used and looked into it and understand what you do but have a few questions.

-What's the objective, is it to sharpen or to it make the shave smoother or extend blade life?
-Do hand stroppers do it each shave or just when they put in a new blade.
-Does it actually achieve anything or is it all in the mind ;)
 
It's supposed to do to a DE blade what stropping using a strop does to a straight.

I have tried it, and on one occasion was convinced that it made a difference, but these days I really can't be arsed with removing a blade, hand stropping it and then putting it back again.

However, if I am transferring a blade from one razor to another, I do tend to do it.

Ian
 
Some people even do it with straight razors:

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Not me, though - wanna keep those fingers...
 
Redefining a blades edge using your skin? I suppose Neil Miller would provide the surest answer but it didn't make any noticeable difference when I tried it.
 
I have a friend who hand strops plane irons and swears blind that it improves the edge. I think it's a showy little trick which confers no discernible benefit whatsoever ... and yes, I do it from time to time, just in case :lol: Never with a razor blade though: can't be bothered.
 
I have read about people who swear that it does the trick, but I have never found it to do much - I used to do it to chisels, though, when I was younger. And a show-off. And I healed up nice and quick then.

One thing about stropping is that it needs a definite speed - too slow and it doesn't work, much too slow and it can degrade the edge (I imagine that the leather bounces up behind the bevel and either blunts or rounds it off). There isn't a great deal or real-estate on the palm to get much of a speed up...

Now, if it involved using the inner thigh of a beautiful young virgin like they say the best Havanna cigars are rolled, I might show a bit more interest...

Regards,
Neil.
 
I do it with SE's sometimes, not sure how much difference it makes but I do think it helps a bit.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogq4wfpT7hc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
 
That video was shot by Dave Irving, and even though he's a huge SE razor fan, he did report via his SOTD posts over on SMF, getting a huge amount of shaves from a Swede, so it seemed to work for him.

Ian
 
I did it with Derbys. The first shave was always bad and when i had hand stropped it it made them abit better.
Dont use Derbys now so dont bother.
 
Did it for a while and noticed no difference so don't do it anymore. Noticed more of a difference running a new Feather through a piece of styrofoam, it took that raw first shave away for me. Later I found I can also take that rawness away by ensuring I have a very light first pass with a new Feather.

I think if you don't get hand stropping right you will probably do more harm than good.
 
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