Do you think I am just being too hard on this guy? I mean, I don't mean to be crass but for the love of pete...
He has a few truths in there about the SR.. The angle or 1/2 X he is doing is right, however most of us do also angle the razor slightly as we strop, tip forward heel behind... The exact opposite of how it was honed, this keeps the Striations aligned too He says to keep the spine of the blade on the strop which is correct, the fact that he is lifting the spine on every down stroke is something that should be ignored BUT Even that can teach you something, if you note the sound difference between the up stoke and the down stroke it will teach you to also listen while stropping as that can help detect bad form Hint: Most any "Rouge" or Compound Bars that you find at Woodworking stores Knife Stores, or Tool stores are not pure enough for use on a SR, you simply have to look at the MSDS to find out the percentages... Personally nothing under 98% pure touches my edges, and I prefer 99.99 %...
Now with that strop chewed up the way it is, can that do more harm than good with aligning the blade? I would think it can't be good but someone with more experience I'm sure could say for sure.
Hmmmmm Tough call For a "Purist" to the hobby that strop would be unacceptable and would need to be replaced... To a "Prudent" SR shaver and the edge should be sanded off and repaired, and to some, a SR is just a tool and is actually a disposable item after years of use.. I guess the answer would depend on your POV
I think he made a mistake by putting the compound paste on the leather. He should have put it on the canvas instead. I also don't think he's holding it taut enough to do any good and his stropping motion kind of sucks to my eyes. In the end though if he's happy with the quality of his edges, who am I to judge his techniques?
