Thread: Strop and humidity

Hi, I'm sure that I'm overreacting, but I wanted to make sure first. I just got a strop and I planned on keeping it hanging on my towel rack, which is how this question came about: Will humidity do anything to my strop? You know, after a hot shower, and the strop being in the bathroom, etc.

I'm pretty sure that everyone keeps their strops in the bathroom, but I'm soooo new to this that I had to just making sure.

Thanks in advance!

I don't suppose you'd want a wet towel laying on your strop... I wouldn't. I also know how hard I pull the strop to keep it 'taught' and at those pressures your towel rack will likely be ripped off the wall.

Might want to put a wood screw into the door jam (I did... it wasn't painful), or find a stud for the screw in a good place away from wetness, or fashion a hook thingy to hang over the door that when closed gives a good support point for the strop. Many possiblities.

My first strop lived in the bathroom. This was in college, and I shared the bathroom with two other guys. My strop cupped. Once I took it out of the bathroom and got her flattened out, I had no more problems. I don't know for certain if it was the humidity that did it, but that is what I suspect.

We live in the high humidity tropics, and I keep my strops hanging in our bathroom, to boot.

The only problem that I have encountered with leather is mold. However, I've never had a
problem in that regard with my strops. That's probably because I use them every day and
I keep them clean.

Every once in awhile...like once a year...I apply a light coat of neatsfoot oil to the BACK of
the strops. The working surface gets a daily hand-rubbing and 30-50 laps with a razor.

Just don't get them actually wet, and hang them somewhere that gets a bit of air circulation.

Other than that, no problems.

You will hear both opinions, "keep it out of the humid bathroom" and "it is fine in the bathroom". As always it is YMMV. My experience is this:

Grandfather had his strop in the bathroom from about 1915-1970's when he stopped using a straight. No A/C so certainly humid! Strop was fine.

I have towel hooks mounted on the wall of my bathroom... towels don't go over the strops of course. I have never had a problem with them.

I'd say keep them in the bathroom. If you start to see a problem, move it elsewhere.

I keep my strop in my bedroom and strop before bed the razor I'm going to be using the next day.

I think the problem with humidity and the strop is not so much that it gets wet but that it must go through at least one and maybe more wetting and drying cycles each day. For this reason, I keep mine elsewhere.

Gentlemen:

I am not sure whether the humidity in the bathroom will contribute to a strop cupping. To be safe I keep my strops in the bedroom. Like everything else in the shave den, my stops are rotated, too. The strop of the day, then, goes to the shave den, and when finished with shaving and stropping, I hang it back on the hook in the bedroom. Why take a chance I say.

Regards,

Obie

Actually I think a bit of moisture is probably good for a strop. I know I live in single digit humidity and and the strops do begin to dry. Certainly water and leather don't mix so I'd say if the bathroom is well ventilated it's probably no issue. If there is any condensation on the strop or it feels moist I wouldn't keep it there.

Honestly these are quite helpful ideas. As a noob, I thank you all veeerrry much! I think I'll start out by not taking the risk, however, it seems like quite the experiment to try! Maybe someone will be willing to keep two strops in two different places (one being the bathroom) and two different razors to see what happens??? Ah, I guess not, heh!

Thanks again gentlemen!