All About Pocket Knives

Owd Wullie wrote:That "barber/actor" didn't know jack schitt about stropping a razor either.

Willie,

To execute the "Barber Roll" on a strop, do you make certain the razor never leaves the strop?

I strop my carving knives on a piece of pigskin, with compound, and will often strop without the blade leaving the strop ... (go one side up, then roll the blade over w/o picking the blade off the strop, then back down, all the while maintaing the correct bevel angle of the knife) to ensure there is no "rounding" of the edge. I have heard this technique referred to as the "Barber Roll?" Don't know if that's true or not?

That feller/barber/actor, strops like they all do in the movies, quick and haphazardly, surely rounding those fragile edges? I know nothing about honing/maintaing a straight razor, but have rounded a few edges in the past through poor/over stropping techniques.

I'm enjoyin' the razor conversations here ... just may have to break a few of mine out...

Mastro Livi is an Italian razor maker. His blades are in high demand by those that like the high dollar custom razors.

He strops like a wild man!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBXOP9tGqZs[/youtube]

On the other hand the lady at Dovo is more old fashioned. Skip to the around the 4:00 mark
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ACJrAI3SxM[/youtube]

I never lift the spine off the strop myself. I can't roll the razor between my thumb and forefinger due to my arthritis but I can roll the razor with my wrist. I can make the blade pop the strop when I flip it if I want to. Took me a while to get any speed up but I haven't sliced my strop. YET that is. LOL

I guess whatever works the best for you so you don't slice up your strop and screw up your edge.

Thanks for the videos, Willie ... I guess you can strop like a wild man with those razors, as long as you know what you're doin'!

I'm definitely a slow stropper, and also use my wrist to roll the blade. Like you said, whatever method works best for you, is the one to use. Thanks again, Willie.

I think the most important thing to remember is to roll the blade over on its spine, and not its edge. I'm just learning, but I do know how easily you can wreck the edge by being careless.

Gunstock Jack wrote:I think the most important thing to remember is to roll the blade over on its spine, and not its edge.

Yessir, Barry ... I never roll on the edge ... Always on the spine! I should have been more specific That'd be a quick way to a dull blade and gouged strop fer sure!