Well I've seen corking mentioned in several threads and didn't understand the meaning until I hit on this thread. Now I know and I'll be giving it a try, along with stropping, ASAP. Never quit learning!!
Hmm, couldn't find any cork around the house, and I my late orders haven't had any foam peanuts. Will this kind of foam work? We have plenty at work (we bought a batch of 15 UPS or so, and the boxes came with 2 protective pieces for the sides of the UPS') The one I have is thicker than that. Like the one on the second photo. Second Photo
I also wonder if it would help and if yes how it should be used.Should the blade be rubbed parallel or perpendicular to its edge? Should it be used as in the case of hand stropping?
I stropped my first DE blade this morning after reading this thread last night. I'm on shave #4 on this blade & I had a better shave today than on my previous 3 shaves. I am still new to my DE razor but I was amazed that my first shave without any nicks came on an older blade. I'd have to say that the stropping made a huge difference. Thanks so much to Rolls for leaving this legacy (& probably many others I haven't found yet) here on the forums to help so many people he never met.
+1 here, it's really surprising how much I pick up every time i look at a knew thread! Thank you. Jon
Not strictly necessary, but I thought I'd link a video in case it helped anyone... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogq4wfpT7hc
Actually, the video above from Dave is palm stropping. Rolls was stropping on his forearm. However, palm stropping like above works as well!
I didnt read ALL pages of this, but I think it is worth mentioning... For those who are just starting out and have no idea what stropping is or how to do it, you may want to clarify the way you " slide it to your wrist" I mean common sense would tell you that you want to slide it with the sharp edge trailing behind the direction you are sliding, but it has been my experience that common sense is not always very common. I'd hate to see someone gash their forearm open trying to "strop?" a blade.... just my 2 cents.
With corking you want to pass the very edge of the blade through the material(ie cork,foam) etc. If I had to put it in order of use, I'd say you would want to cork your blade after you strop. Although in my mind corking is much the same as stropping and serves the same purpose as far as smoothing the edge. Although with stropping not only are you making the edge smoother, your also making it keener. Your not wanting to actually cut the material in half just make a shallow slice through it. The purpose of doing this is to remove microscopic bits of steel left on the edge from the sharpening process. Theoreticaly making the blade edge shave smoother. Some people swear it works, some people swear if doesn't...