Texture is a ubiquitous tactile feature encompassing multiple dimensions of surface properties, including coarseness and slipperiness. In the rodent whisker system – a model for active tactile exploration with sensitivity comparable to the primate fingertip – texture sensing occurs through whisking against or dragging the whiskers across surfaces. Deformations induced by the whisker-surface interaction create stresses in the whisker, which propagate to the follicle and are encoded by follicle-innervating primary mechanosensory neurons. These deformations may comprise combinations of bending, twisting, buckling, and the high-speed stick-slip events typical of frictional interactions. To characterize the mechanics of whisking against textures and the responses evoked in follicle-innervating mechanosensory neurons, we produced sub-millisecond resolution 3D reconstructions of mouse whiskers during locomotion-induced whisking against vertical square wave gratings. The gratings’ spatial frequencies and the materials they were fabricated in varied the coarseness and slipperiness of the surfaces. Measurements of the reconstructed whiskers showed that their curvature and torsion reached larger magnitudes during whisking against the least slippery material (silicone) than the three more slippery materials (aluminum, Delrin, and 3D printed resin), suggesting that whisker deformation – and the correlated mechanical signals that directly drive neuronal responses – could be used to decode material properties of surfaces. Whisking against silicone also evoked stick-slip events of higher average peak acceleration at the whisker tip and base than against other materials. Finally, some follicle-innervating low-threshold mechanoreceptor afferents responded with markedly larger increases in spiking to whisking against silicone than against aluminum, Delrin, or resin, with a preference for values of curvature and torsion that were less sampled on the slippery surfaces. We speculate that these larger responses may reflect sensitivity to the larger axial forces and twisting moments occurring during whisking against silicone.