Thread: Lather in strop

Josh,
I have not actually seem lather damage a strop. Just being my usual, very cautious self <g>. I know many guys have lathers the latigo strops but then again they are saturated with oils and waxes already so are fairly unharmed by moisture. Natural tooling leathers and my Honey Brown have no treatment other than tanning and will soak up water like a sponge.

Tony

I clean and care for all my leather products from boots to jackets to strops. Saddle soap and water for cleaning is what I use mostly, although I have used lather to no ill effects on strops. Neatsfoot oil and mink oil I use to restore the oils removed by cleaning or lost through aging. The mink oil also makes leather products water resistant. Too much water is obviously not good but if allowed to dry out and then reconditioned you should be OK. By the way, when I use lather to clean my strops I rinse it with water, let it dry, and then recondition it, I dont allow the lather to remain on the strop.

Originally Posted by JMS

By the way, when I use lather to clean my strops I rinse it with water, let it dry, and then recondition it, I dont allow the lather to remain on the strop.

What technique do you use to rinse the strop without letting too much water soak in?

Originally Posted by matt

What technique do you use to rinse the strop without letting too much water soak in?

I go over it with a damp rag several times until there is no slipperyness and then I blot it with a dry towel. The rag should be rinsed between wipings.

I have Lathered and pumiced 3 of the TM strops I have (honey brown, 2 Latigos) with no ill effect. Wetting leather has no detrimental effect on leather as long as it is allowed to dry at a low even temperature. Following the drying process with dressing is advised but be sure to use very small amounts. I apply dressing to the reverse side on a lathered strop so that I don't spoil the surface I just spent ages preparing diligently.

Leaving the lather on the strop, I take to mean that you don't flush away with fresh water but wipe off the excess? I just wipe off and not rinse, followed by the bottle treatment to smooth out. Leaving the lather on the surface in an uneven coating would not be advised by me at all.
All the TM strops I have done this to have responded very well but I hesitate to advise others with less experience to try it. Perhaps this could be offered as a service by some willing patron to this forum?

This type of dressed strop imo has a lot of merit and should not be disscounted from the "strop dressing arsenal".

PuFF

Puffah,
Thanks for the update. Glad this works well for you. I'm just being careful as I don't know what effect it may have.

Take care,
Tony

As a foot note to my post, perhaps it should be advised to test types of dressing to a leather belt or the like before trying it on a TM or other brand of strop. Gaining experience with the process on less valued items is a wiser approach.
Tony, your Honey brown strop came up fantastic with this method and I would not part with it now over all my other strops. Latigo gets a finish that just excels as a pre-strop and finishes harder steels better than most.
As you would expect, a certain amount of stretch takes place so I would not advise this to anyone not willing to accept the outcome and be prepared to rectify the strop them selves. If you go beyond the advise given on the purchase of a strop then the responsibility is on you the user to live with the results. TM does not recommend anything beyond using his strops as they come.

PuFF

Typing seriously here and from a typical position of ignorance, I suspect that the barbers of old who advocated (used) lather to treat their strops were doing so to clean the leather. They likely used their strops much more than we do and from time to time needed to clean off accumulated dirt and swarf, and they used the tools at hand, e.g. lather. While other leather implement uses such as farmers and ranchers would use saddle soap, barbers would use lather which contained perhaps some of the things in saddle soap. I also suspect they used lather on their strops occasionally rather than regularly.

I treat my strops with applications of vigorously rubbed palm - not the tree, not the oil, rather the unit attached to the end of my arm. Perhaps in the years to come I may wish to clean the strop with something - maybe lather, but as a regular discipline I think it is not needed. Oil soaked leather (and soaps contain oils) gets limp and loses its shape and that shape is what we depend on for being able to strop a razor's delicate edge well and predictably.

So from one newly into this affair of the edge, but one who has opinions on nearly everything, take this for what you think it is worth: the strops as they come from a good source probably won't need an amateurs help for a long time.

opinion 8612, Bruce

Bruce, your opinion is worth as much as mine.
Pumice and lather is an infrequent dressing for a strop not done for years between, but is imo a preparation for a new strop and to revive an old strop.
A soft flexible strop is what I find to be the best. You are correct that an over oiled strop is useless but this is not from a deformation perspective but more from a surface texture and draw stand point. Over oiled strops will not lose their shape or go limp due to the user constantly tensioning the strop in use, where as Stiff strops have to be stropped on with care as they do not conform to a razors profile so readily. Your use of the palm rubbing method is by far the best treatment for any strop and for the beginner the strop will be in most cases fit for purpose from new without the need for any treatment.

PuFF

Bruce,

Good thought on the cleaning thing. That's part of it. My barber manual recommends using the lather as a treatment or as a cleaning method.

Actually, it recommends treating it with lather, then rubbing it with pumice, then rubbing it with a bottle... Repeat several times.

So far I've just tried the lather.

Josh