Thread: Cool find

So I go to my local antique mall today and head to the booth where a guy sometimes has a few straights for sale.. Nothing new today but on the way out i notice a new dealer with a lot of guy stuff.. First thing I notice is a number of vintage DE's he has ( Let me know if anyone collects these because he has a number if them and I can send pics). Then I see this😁. It is in great shape as can be seen in pictures. Leather side was dry so I put about a dime size amount of Neets in my hands and rub in. By the time I reached for a towel to wipe my hands the oil had completely absorbed into leather. It's not as dry but you can't feel any oil or see any on my fingertips to the touch. I want to use this on occasion but don't want to ruin any original fabric or leather. Should I let it sit like this or should I add a little more Neets?.. thanks, Scott

By adding too much oil too fast, I had a strop that I could oil and strop my razor at the same time. As you rub it and warm it up with your hand the oil will draw out a little and then suck back in. I would do some hand rubbing for a while before decided to add oil or not.

Thanks Rez.. One other question. I finished up my 1st bevel set to stone progression thru SS 12000 finish.. I'm happy with blade and looks good with 10x Loop.. I strop using my regular strop and this new one, look at blade again and see about 2-3 microchips that were not there before stropping. The dummy I am not only did I not think of cleaning this new strop I have dropped my regular strop off the hook a number of times the last few weeks without cleaning it. How should I clean my strops to rid of debris and do i have to start over on 4000 stone to take out these tiny chips? Thanks

To clean a strop, the best way is with a damp cloth. Just rub it a few times and you should be good.
As to the micro chips, you shouldn’t have to go below 8k. Not sure what stones you have, but an 8 should be pleanty low enough

Complicated questions. I will start with the easiest. The new strop can be simply wiped with a damp cloth and it should be good to go.
Cleaning the new strop, I would wait until you figure out the piling part and then wipe it with a clean rage and try a few passes with a razor to see if it is doing anything bad. You can clean it with a very soft brush and saddle soap or lather, and wipe it clean with a moist rag, let it dry and perhaps oil it if it seems dry after a good rubbing and in my case with fresh washed hands.
As for the razor, it depend on how micro these chips are. They can he from many things. Has the razor recently had work, as in restoration done to it. If so, I believe that when we do heavy work on a blade we damage the steel below the surface and sometimes we need to take a little more steel off than just the bevel set. It is possible but much less likely that you honed the blade too much with too much pressure on the high grit hones and have made the fin too thin and it is starting to fail. I am sure there are other possibilities two. The first is the most likely. I would likely approach it by LIGHTLY killing the edge on a thumbnail and then working it back up from the 4K. I also use a 30x loupe. My eyes are not what they used to be.

Hmmm.. The razor is a henkels twin works with no rust/pitting and when I purchased it didn't appear to have a whole lot of use.. It just was not that sharp and I could see the uneven bevel.. It took me a number of tries to get a level bevel and get thru 1k-4000k/8000k-to Naniwa 12000 finish.. Taped spine Andi did use a lot of strokes on the 8k and 12k finish.. The blade edge still has a lot of steel on it tho.. I did use a newspaper for the ink grit also.. I will take your guys recommendations on strop cleaning and redo the edge with light pressure.. I'm betting I've put too much pressure on this while honing.. I've tried to tell myself to go slow and easy but caught myself getting on top of the razor with more weight than needed. Going to put it away until tomorrow. Thanks you guys. Have a good weekend. ( rez I'll email you with tracking number tomorrow also)