Thread: First vintage shell strop!

The strop looks in good condition.
Shell is indeed one of the best options for stropping. I have both vintage NOS, and restored horshide strops and are by far my favorites.

I have restored quit a few old Kanoyama cordovan strops and i have tried diffrent restoration recipes.

All of them require rehidratation and lubrication.

In time the leather dries out and loses it's natural oils...the oils lubricate the colagen fibers and as you bend and flex the leather they reduce the friction between fibers.
The absence of the oils leads to increased friction between fibers, fiber brake and eventualy cracks in the leather.
Also dehidratation promotes cracking of the colagen fibers.

Restoring one to it's former glory takes time and patience.

There are a lot of natural and sinthetic oils that can work extremly well...
- Pure neatsfoot oil - provided it's 100% pure neatsfoot oil and not a rip off.
- Balistol - it was designed for leather care and gun care...it works a charm and it is easy to find.
- Any kind of natural oil that does not resinify in time(aka keeps it's liquid form)

I get great results resoring old strops with this method.(thin leather strops tend to deform when hidrated so take care...@2,5+ mm thick leather strops are usualy safe to restore.)

1) (Dissasembly)Place the leather strop on a flat surface next to a water source...(aka kitchen on a large wood cutting board
2) Use a sponge to gently rubb in hot water on the leather on both sides....hot water penetrates the leather better...Wipe the excess water off.
3) At this point if there are any nicks or cuts you may think of using some 150-400 grit sandpater (usualy higher then 300 grit th leather just clogs it up and it is useless to try)to level them out then wash that area with water to remove any particles that may have come off. Also if the edges of the leather are dried and rough this is a good tme to sand them....just set the strop at the edge of the cutting board and camfer the edges.
4) Using another sponge add some balistol oil...a spoon fool on the sponge should be enough. Another way is to use balistol spray and spray the front and back of the strop.
5) Wipe the excess off...dont be affraid first cat of oil will be absorbed more rapidly it may be difficult to figure out how much oil to apply but if you overdoit you can just use a clean sponge with hot water and decreasing detergent to rubb the excess off and clean both faces.
6) let dry in hanging position for a few hours...dont try to speed up the process by using heat or you can ruin the stropp...colagen coagulates at temperatures of 55-70C! that mins it shrivvles and loses it's flexibility....also dont get the fancy idea of usin the iron on the strop to flaten the leather...t may work in some cases but i dont advice it.
7) After drying for a few hours put back on a flat surface and use the palm of your hand to rubb it front and back or use a lint free cloth to rubb it.
8) if there is need you can repeat steps 2 to 7.

Other tips and tricks
- Idealy is to apply the minimum amount of oil that gets the leather smooth.
- Large quantities of oil will increase drag and will get the surface sticky to dust and particulea and will clug the pores of the leather....
- You can always wash with warm water and degrease the leather if you overdo it with the oil....let dry on flat wooden surface or in haging position.

- Dont overdoit with sandpaper.
To be efficient the strop surface must remain relatively flat...when sanding one must take care not to remove to much material.

The top layer of the leather is where the magic happens...that's where the highest concentration of silicone is(abrasive particules) and this layer is also the finest and strongest due to high concentration of colagen fibers...the deeper layers are less densly packed and usualy have higher concentrations of fatty tissues, glands and folicules...so less colagen.

- Dont pull that hard on a restored strop...especialy if there are cracks on the sides...it can brake easier. Apply progressive tension ant see if it holds out to your usual routine.

P.S. Why balistol?...it tends to clog the leather less then 100% pure neatsfoot oil and gives the strop a lower drag then neatsfoot oil.


This is just the method i use to restore old strops it works for me...I'm not saying it's the best i put it togeter from what i read over the years on forums...what Iwasaki sayd about strops(in "Honing razors and nihon kamisorys") and what i come to experience during restorations of leather strops....there are many other methods, you decide what works for you.
Hope this helps.