Thread: Breaking in!!?

Heya guys,

Just bought an Illinois Razor Strop 827 and have read that these need 'breaking in'. I have only had experience with Tony Miller's Heirloom strops that don't need any procedure other than rubbing some neatsfoot oil in every 5-6 months!

Now..... can anyone explain in detail (if possible) how I break in this strop before I even think of letting my Livi loose on it??

Thanks

Rick

I work 4 yards to your left and i know the answer to that !

No he doesn't know the answer!! I've just shot an elastic band his way!!

A quality strop should not need any breaking in but if you feel you have to do something you can take a rolling pin and work it over with that or a bottle filled with water and do the samething or you can just work you hands over it to transfer some oil and just work it in with your hand.

Pretty sure we used to have the instructions in the files section of the site, but I can't seem to find it.
As I recall, (I did this to mine) it involves rubbing lather into the strop, smoothing it with pumice, more lather, and rubbing a glass bottle over the strop for quite some time, then letting it dry.
That said, in hindsight I'm not sure it needed it. The rub down with a bottle and the lather seemed to improve the strop, but the pumice seemed to keep picking up a lot of junk without a lot of (IMHO) benefit.
John P.
edit: I've only heard this for an 827 rough Russian strop.

No pumice required for a new strop -

The old fashioned way to break in a new strop is as follows:

First, separate the leather from the canvas strop. If you have the IRS Co type strop this is easy to do. Just unscrew the nut holding the strops together. Place the leather strop on a flat surface. A flat board with a nail at one end to secure the strop works well.

Using a smooth glass bottle (An empty beer bottle with the lable removed works very well. Be sure to use the side without the mold seam) -

Rub thick shaving lather into the leather for approximately 20-30 minutes. I use Williams' since that was most likely the shave soap available to barbers when this method of breaking in was developed. Keep the strop coated with lather the entire time. 20-30 minutes is the old time method. I've found you can get away with 10-15 minutes of rubbing. Just rub the bottle back and forth the entire length of the strop. Use enough pressure to work the lather into the leather.

Wipe all lather from the strop with a cloth. Apply a small amount of strop DRESSING (not paste!!) to cover the strop. Rub the dressing into the leather with the bottle for about 15 minutes (5-10 min if you are trying the abreviated version).

Apply thick lather again and rub into leather as in the first step for about 15 min.

Wipe all excess lather from strop then dust with shave talc evenly (I use Pinauds). Let the strop dry on a flat surface for 24 hours then reassemble your strop.

The strop will usually be darker and softer after this treatment. Also you will notice the lather turning reddish brown as you rub the strop with the bottle. This is especially noticable with the IRS #827 Russia. If the strop feels a little stiff after drying, just rub with your palm a few time to loosen it up.

You should also find that the strop becomes much more pliable after this. That is a good thing.

It's a lot of work, but it does help. Actually giving your strop this same treatment a couple of times improves it even more.

Is it absolutely necessary to do this to your strop? Probably not. But, I found I liked the way my #827 worked better after this treatment than before.


Scott

My Illinoise 827 arrived well soaked in dressing! It was downright wet which in itself was not that much of a problem but my specimen was very "shaggy", as in the nap was very pronounced and made for a less than satisfying stropping action. I elected to use stiff lather as mentioned above and used a pumice stone to remove some of the excess nap (going only with the grain of the nap, not against). In the end I used a sharp blade to shave some of that nap off (not recommending this to anyone, just what I did knowing the risks involved) and ended up with a very satisfying strop. It's quite perplexing actually, I can lightly strop any razor in my stable on this strop and it will come up to hanging hair test sharp in no time. If I then try to finish the blade on a smooth leather strop, I sometimes loose some sharpness... as in the hanging hair test is not as crisp as it was from the 827, so for now I've settled on using the 827 alone.... I'm thinking my stropping technique probably still needs some work or perhaps there is something I'm missing, but for now I'll stick with the 827 and flirt on occasion with my red latigo strop to see if I can improve things.

Some gents have taken a pumice stone to the very plastic like linen on the 827 as well and have reported improved performance. I have not done so yet and I don't think I will but rather will simply let time and my razors that seem to respond to this linen do the work slowly.

Regards

Christian

Thanks for the advice gents! Seems as though there are a few methods out there!! I've started on the pumice stone method as my strop was VERY stiff and VERY rough when it arrived! It felt like there was a plastic-like layer on the working side of the leather! Anyway, it's starting to come along nicely and is taking on a suede-like surface. Going to finsh it of tonight by rubbing more lather (Mitchell wool fat soap) into it with an empty pint glass (which will be filled with a lovely choice bitter when the job's done!!)

Thanks again!!

Rick