Stropping Opinion

I was in Las Vegas last week. At the Mandalay Bay, they have a 'Razor & Brush store' and 'Shaving Shop.' Brushes over $400, and straight razors more than that. As you can imagine, they are pretty serious about sharpenig and stropping.

They say, 'For the best edge, strop 10 or 12 times on the canvas strop to warm the blade, and then use the leather strop for 10 or 12 strokes.' No compound on either strop. Have any of you heard of this? They say to only use compound only if you have messed up your edge. Just wondering if there's a better way.

They do give a great shave, , if any of you go. Hi Ho, you're not too far.

Thanks Ken

Ken

I wouldn't try shaving with a carving knife, or carving with a straight razor; (unless I made it into a knife).

Stroping a razor is different than a carving knife, the razor is 'hollow-ground' and much harder than most carving tools, which allows for easy and quick edge rejuvination.
I assume that the 'warm up' on the canvas is to protect your expensive razor strap.

[Kenny_S]

There are a various techniques as there are stroppers. I believe whatever works for you should be what you use. I use the back side of a piece of leather I have glued on to a base and load it up with the red Jewelers rouge. Before it was a dry technique and it worked but had to strop more times.

I agree with Rick on protecting the expensive razor. A carver does the same thing to his tools.

Wish you well in your carving endevors.

The method for stropping a razor is completly different than the method for wood tools. If you watch a barber, you will notice that he strops the razor one way, flips it over, then strops the other direction. If you do this with your carving knife, you will almost assuredly round over your edge. A razor, however, has such a thin edge that there is barely any steel to round over. Also, since the edge is so thin, and the razor so expensive, any compound on the strop would remove too much steel. If you like, you can strop your carving tools on bare leather. It will create a better edge than stropping with compound; but it will also take all day.