Stropping a Straight Razor

Regarding the 2016 comment "LOL, for cordovan you need to apply oil and then brush it", apparently a witty retort to my comment here about the Malm's carnauba wax for the Horween cordovan shell strop shown...let the record show the source for "Malm's carnauba wax" was HORWEEN THEMSELVES (~2010).

Many poor quality-strops are sold upon eBay.com, Amazon.com, etc. - the general advice offered here is that a strop which doesn't say who produced it and where is one you don't want!

All strops upon The Superior Shave website (thesuperiorshave.com) are made in the EU or the USA;

http://thesuperiorshave.com/product-category/straight-razors-acc/strops/

However, if you insist to further Amazon.com's power over the concept of goods acquisition, if you find any calfhide strop there that states clearly "Made in Solingen Germany" we at The Superior Shave feel you'll get a quality item.

Stropping a straight razor's a moderate learned skill, much alike honing and wielding the straight itself to the beard.

Start off tight
Pull your strop taut with the ‘off’ hand. If your strop’s a top or full grain style (= the outside of the former animal), rub the surface with your clean palm (with suede type “split-side” strops a la Dovo/Herold don't rub down unless you’re assured hand’s cleanliness).

Never Touch Edge to Strop Unless Spine Also Touching
Keeping *spine* in perpetual contact with strop, gingerly place the razor flat to strop, and move away from its edge along the stropping plane. The edge must never touch the plane unless the spine's in simultaneous contact during motion along the plane. Try to keep speed consistent (and is OK to be slow). Uniformity achieves predictably-great results. Edges like uniform speed & pressure during the passes upon a strop or hone alike.

Flip to Avoid the Endcap Hardware
When the razor approaches an end of the stropping plane, flip it while keeping spine in contact with strop, and begin moving towards the other end before re-landing the edge; never remove the spine from leather during the process.

Always be Cognizant to Keep Edge-Trailing Motion
As you flip the razor, DON’T move the spine along the strop in the direction which would allow the razor’s edge to cut into the strop once it reached the leather (aka the ‘old’ direction).

Missing Strop Bits OK, Asymmetrical Sensations NOT OK
If you mess up and dig razor’s edge into the strop, you’ll likely cut it. Cuts can be sanded or avoided, but if it feels different to pass in one direction than the other it is a no-go.

Never Point Cutting Edge to Leather
Absentmindedly flipping the razor over upon its edge while touching the strop will require re-honing.

the how-to for the regular righties;
Here’s a description of the process for the ~90%-probability right-handed user using a strop narrower than razor’s edge;

Begin with heel of blade aligned with bottom right of strop, razor toe beyond strop width at bottom left
Move razor laterally left-to-right along strop during stroke toward top of strop. When approaching the top, razor’s toe (that’s the front) should completely contact the strop and its heel should be beyond the strop’s top right edge
Flip the razor carefully, realign razor’s heel with top right edge, and move razor left to right during the pass back to the bottom of the strop
Most strops have a “prep” side (linen/canvas/cotton/etc) to remove superfluous stuff and ready razor edge for leather. Strop on that stuff, exactly as you do the leather, right before using the leather. It is not really needed, but surely keeps your strop cleaner over time.

Видео Stropping a Straight Razor канала The Superior Shave