Show Tech Medium 31 Teeth XL Stripping Knife

Show Tech Medium 31 Teeth XL Stripping Knife

The Show Tech fine knives are just perfect for finishing or for the parts where the coat needs to be extra short such as on the skull, cheeks, ears and face. Thanks to the micro teeth, the detailer / fine blade is safe to use on sensitive skin. Do you want to groom the body blend, neck and shoulders in the best way possible? Then the stripping knives with a fine blade are definitely your number one tools! These blades are used for the finer work or finishing, but also for show dogs with a rolling coat that need to be done every week.

How to use a stripping knife ? 

Take the stripping knife in your dominant hand and make sure you see the front of the blade. To know which side is which, you should look where the shortest serrations are. This is the front side. Hand stripping consists of two steps: first you gently push the hair up and against the hair growth, next you pull at the hairs that are sticking out. Push the coat upwards with your thumb and close the hairs in by placing your thumb against the blade of the underside of the stripping knife. Now some hairs of the top coat are between your thumb and the blade. Then, pull the hairs away from the coat and in the direction of the coat growth. While doing so, it is really important to hold the skin tightly with your free hand, so you only pull at the hairs at not the skin. Though it is important to take your time while hand stripping, the pulling itself should be done in a quick motion and with only a few hairs at once. Repeat this process until the desired length is reached.

To avoid joint problems, always keep your wrist in a straight position and don’t turn it downwards while hand stripping. If you want to avoid shoulder problems, it is important to pull with just your forearm and to keep your upper arm still. There is a difference in holding the knife for detailing or for example stripping the jacket. Depending on the size of the area you’re stripping, you should either use your full thumb or the tip. If you want to hand strip your dog’s jacket, you have to put your full thumb on the full length of the knife. For small or sensitive areas, it’s better to use only the tip of your thumb on the top of the knife. This way, you get to work with more precision. An even better way is using different sizes of stripping knives ( Fine, Medium, Coarse, … ) 

If you are new to grooming or aren’t sure if you’re doing it right, you can perform a self-test. When you have pulled a few hairs, sprinkle them on an A4 piece of white or other contrasting colour paper. This way, you can investigate the pulled hairs. If they have the full length and contain no broken or short parts, kudos to you, because this means your technique and stripping knife are good!