gunked-up strop

So, two-year vet that I am, I've gone and done the classic newb's mistake of gunking up my vintage shell horsehide strop with too much paste. Just to be clear, this is conditioning paste only – no abrasives.

It's bad enough that it's even kind of streaking when I strop. And way too much draw for shell.

Shell being so smooth and sealed I'm tempted just to take a damp sponge to it. Or failing that a tiny amount of saddle soap. But I'm wary of making another stupid mistake. Can anyone confirm that this would be OK? Or does anyone have other advice? I only have one strop, so I'm keen to get this rectified.

Thanks guys.

This is a question for Tony Miller. He will probably comment when he sees the post. I hope you can make it right. Good luck with it.

I've used regular shaving soap on my strops to clean them! I just lather up the strop with an old brush and then wipe with a dry towel to remove the lather and then a damp towel to remove whatever soap was left behind! Let it dry laying flat somewhere. Between 2 towels preferably and away from heat! after strop is dry add a little neatsfoot oil or whatever you use to condition your strop. let that soak in for 24 hours and maybe a little more neatsfoot at this point if you deem necessary and another 24 hour soaking in period and you should be good to go!!
Remember a little strop paste goes a long way!

No warm water, use the saddle soap. If I was in this situation, I'd use canned shaving cream. This is probably the only thing canned shaving cream is good for. I clean my boots with it when I don't have saddle soap. Shoot canned shaving cream on it and using a shoe brush, rub in circular motion as if polishing a boot. Wipe off shaving cream and allow to dry.
Ernest

I have used Saddle Soap to clean up quite a few strops. Just follow the directions and make sure you get all the old junk off the strop. A nice stiff brush helps here. Also make sure you let it dry. It will definitely need some neatsfoot oil after you clean it and it may even be a little stiff at first. I start with a good amount, but not excessive, of neatsfoot oil and rub it in a ton. Then I rub the excess off with a towel and let it sit for a day or two. Then I use a little less oil on the next application and completely rub it in by hand (the palm will get warm, but worth as much rubbing as you can do). After this application dries, I use a small amount of oil and rub it in again. This time after a day or two, I continue to rub my palm on the razor and start to strop some of my blades. If there is oil on the blades, then you need to rub it in more and let it sit another day or two.

Good Luck,

Lynn

Thanks guys for all the great advice. I just took a cloth with a small amount of saddle soap on it to the strop and the gunk came right off. The strop looks better than ever. I'll try it tomorrow, but it looks and feels great.

Lynn, thanks a million for the detailed suggestions. In your experience, do you think shell is different from bovine leathers in the amount of conditioning it needs? Shell seems sort of, I don't know, sealed – almost like it's laminated. The surface is so smooth the gunk just sort of wiped off with moderate pressure; I didn't need to brush or scrub or anything. And the saddle soap did not seem to dry it out at all; the gunk is gone and it's supple and glowing. So I am hesitant at the moment to put anything on it, even neats foot oil. It just looks right as it is (tomorrow's stropping of course being the real test).

But I do remember cleaning up a vintage bovine strop a couple of years ago when I was a beginner, and as I recall it was much more involved sort of thing.

I really haven't noticed the difference in cleaning between the Shell and Bovine. Really it all has depended on how much stuff there was and how set in it was. My old Shells seem a little thinner, but once either the Shell or Bovine are broken in well, they both have that nice smooth feel and usually a really steady nice drag. The main thing was that if they needed a lot of cleaning, I definitely waited for them to dry before putting any oil on.

Awesome that you got this cleaned up already. I would still make sure you do some palm rubbing.....:tu

Lynn