Stroppery

Use a straight. You know it makes sense.
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drmoss_ca
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Re: Stroppery

Post by drmoss_ca »

I sometimes find that an extra-firm stropping will rescue an edge that does that. I assume it happens when I failed to strop carefully enough the shave before. When that doesn't work, out come the pasted strops, and when they don't work, the hones.

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
EL Alamein
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Re: Stroppery

Post by EL Alamein »

drmoss_ca wrote:I don't go quite that slack! If the slack strop allows the strop to polish the edge at more of an angle than usual, I suppose you could make a theoretical case for doing the last few strokes with it taut to make even finer adjustments to the edge.

Chris
So I've adapted my stropping a bit. I strop the Liam way on both the linen and then the leather then I pull the strop taut and do about ten passes each side lightly against the taught strop. Really nice edge! Works great between the first and second passes too and allows for a smoother keener pass.

The ghost of Arthur Boon rises! :)

Chris
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Re: Stroppery

Post by brothers »

Nowadays, where would one locate a copy of Arthur E. Boon's Razor Central? I'm very curious as to the reference to Boon, above.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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drmoss_ca
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Re: Stroppery

Post by drmoss_ca »

The intro and foreword have been translated into German, but the chapters are all in English.

http://www.en.nassrasur.com/razorcentral/

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
brothers
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Re: Stroppery

Post by brothers »

Chris, this appears to be something I used as part of my self-education process about 5 years ago when I became interested in straight razors. Somehow over the years I lost track of it. thanks for providing the link. There is a lot of information there.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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Re: Stroppery

Post by EL Alamein »

Continuing with this method of stroppery I have come to a bit of a surprising conclusion: my very vintage Illinois strop (linen, from what I can tell) definitely has a cutting abrasive applied to it. I don't know what it is but up until now I've always assumed that it was Dovo's white paste for linen - the ancient version. It may actually still be that and at that time it was slightly more aggressive than what it is today.

I say I believe this because I've had to reset the bevel once or twice because the edge, while still sharp, has decayed into something that is not comfortable at all and very irritating. When doing a touch up hone I notice that using something like an 8k it must take something far north of 100 passes to get the edge keen. I've actually not counted beyond that as I've gotten frustrated and just pulled out a 4k stone and just reset the bevel from there (ten laps at most on the 4k does the trick, then back to the 8k for polishing). This seems very odd to me as I've never had to do that much work for just a touch up. Usually it's a few passes on the 8k then the pasted strop for smoothing and then it's to the linen and plain leather (all strops pulled taut).

The linen in question, when examined closely, has some sort of very hard substance in it's pores. I'm not sure what it is but it reminds me of cement. It's a very white, hard substance. I wish I could get it analyzed somewhere to learn what it is. It is not the waxy substance on many vintage Illinois linens nor the hard starchy light green stuff on other older Illinois linens (this is actually the very same type of linen on my very first strop bought at age 12/13). This white hard substance doesn't seem to get black with use nor come off the strop.

Uncovering this has lead me to possibly understand more fully what I formerly thought to be (for lack of a better term) "magical" (or at least exceptionally good) properties - it can usually coax a very keen edge from something just on the cusp of dull much more so than any other strop I own (most of which are vintage) even when pulled taut but now most especially so when stropping in the very slack Finnegan method.

Starting tomorrow I am going to switch to another vintage strop that does not have the same linen treatment as this one just to see if the same decay is going to happen. If I remember I will report back my results in a few months time.

Chris
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Re: Stroppery

Post by brothers »

Here's a bump for this timeless and very informative thread.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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drmoss_ca
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Re: Stroppery

Post by drmoss_ca »

Thank you, Gary. I'm still stropping on a slack strop and the shaves are all the better for it.

C.
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
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