Regimental Razor strop? Info & care suggestions.

Hi everyone,

I have a Regimental razor strop in very good condition. From the pics you can see it's pretty clean but a bit dry. It has a red and a black side. The instructions on the box say "stop first on red, finish on the black side"

I'm pretty sure it leather. Any tip on cleaning preserving? Any commonts on age? I was told it's early teen's as far as the age?

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/3769/322054438o.jpg

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http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/1713/322054507o.jpg

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Thanks!

Capt. Thomas

What pics? As far as age, if you see two little bumps starting to form near the top it might be an early teenager.

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Originally Posted by ace

What pics? As far as age, if you see two little bumps starting to form near the top it might be an early teenager.

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Oooops, I forgot the tags. Pics included ..... .now.

Capt. Thomas

Captain, Sir

That strop just screams out "Lather Me" to me, but you'll get differing ideas on this as on anything else here. I would whip up some lather, coat it heavily and let it dry overnight. Then, the next day, wipe the residual lather off and rub the crap out of it with your palm. I think you'll see a dramatic difference in appearance and draw. It looks like a nice paddle strop. If you don't like it, you know where to send it.

Private Ace

Ok thanks for the advice. I think if it were in need of a minor conditioning this would be sufficient but it is pretty dry, especially on the black side. Since this is a soft surface "padded" strop and it is a bit dry, I was thinking along the lines of Lexol, Mink oil or even saddle soap to soften it up and preserve it a bit? Am I way off base thinking this direction? I don't want it to crack of course but I just have never had a soft strop before.

The palm grease, etc. works for a little conditioning of my wooden paddle's but I have never allowed them to dry out like this one is? I think it will be a great travel strop if I can get back from the dried out state it's in now.

Capt. Thomas

I have saddle soaped my strop in the past, it works well enough. I recently tried the 'complete' lathering and let it sit overnight method, and, it works great. I especially like a little bit of resistance on the draw and the latter method really worked well. I also, routinely (I caught some flack for this suggestion), rub my strop on my hounds back to steal a little of his oiliness. All methods work well.