Thread: Is this strop ruined?

This is a new Illinois Imperial Russia handing strop after three months of, now I understand, too heavy stropping. About half of the surface is visibly roughened. Is this strop ruined? Still usable? Savable?

wow!

you will need a little work to get that back into fighting shape. search here for reconditioning vintage strop instructions...it looks like you will need some pumice and neats foot or mink oil to get that back in forum ... "the bigspendur " has some strop reconditioning tips around here somewhere.

if that's the strop whats the razor look like?

Originally Posted by Doc

if that's the strop whats the razor look like?

Forget what the razor looks like ... what about my face?

I personally don't think it looks that bad!! Not as bad as what you're making it out to be.

I have an Illinois 827 and when I first bought it it was stiff, waxy and waaaaaay to rough! I pm'd Josh Earl (who was very helpful and understanding) and he recommended I rub a pumice stone over it using light pressue, then making a stiff lather from a quality shave soap (I used Mitchells Wool Fat soap) and rub it into the strop using a flat sided glass or bottle. Wipe off excess lather with a clean damp cloth and leave to dry for about 24hours. Repeat this 2 or 3 times and you will get a surface that feels like velvet and is my best strop surface out of the lot!

Hope this helps!

Rick

Originally Posted by Stagga100

I personally don't think it looks that bad!! Not as bad as what you're making it out to be.

Yes ... I'm sure I'm overreacting but you can understand how frustrating it is trying to put it all together. I've had the shaving part down for a long time and then I discovered SRP in April and it has forced me to reevaluate how I do everything else ... not to mention the economic impact of RAD! When I realized that I was stropping way too heavily, I thought Oh No!, now I have to buy another strop!

The Illinois 827 uses the reverse side of the hide which will always have a rough surface compared to the skin side most makers use. There are quite a few posts here on how to condition and smooth an 827 so it has a smooth surface. i of course always wonder why not buy the Illinois 127 instead which is the identical strop with the smooth side out. Very little is needed to use that one.

Tony

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

The Illinois 827 uses the reverse side of the hide which will always have a rough surface compared to the skin side most makers use. There are quite a few posts here on how to condition and smooth an 827 so it has a smooth surface. i of course always wonder why not buy the Illinois 127 instead which is the identical strop with the smooth side out. Very little is needed to use that one.

Tony

I'm not quite sure I understand what you are saying. Is it OK to use it as is, or does it need to be smoothed?

Even if youve stropped half the life out of it , youve still got half to go. Condition it and go with it. Alittle pumice and some neats foot oil should do the trick.

That looks typical of an 827! Maybe Honedright will chime in!? I think it looks ok!