Conditioning A Red Latigo Strop

[Ryan82]

First off, I think I read somewhere that latigo leather requires a different conditioning routine than other leathers. Is this correct?

I have a Tony Miller 3" red latigo that I bought last year, my daily strop. I currently give it a rub down with my palm prior to every stropping session, as is the norm. Lately I've noticed that I don't get as much draw as I used to, usually a sign that a strop needs conditioning. Some areas are more "shiney" than others, and although the palm rub does seem to help this out a bit. Any ideas about what would help? Would neatsfoot or Fromms do the trick?

[Joeman]

Ryan, I seem to remember that Tony sold a leather conditioner at one point, not sure if he still does? In addition to Neatsfoot oil, I'm wondering if you could use Lexol as well?

Joe

[leadduck]

I also have a 3" Red Latigo. Fantastic strop! As I recall, Tony's instructions that came with it, advised that it doesn't need any conditioning whatsoever. Maybe Tony himself will weigh in.

[thebigspendur]

Unless the strop is starting to dry out you don't need to do anything to it. The old oil from the palm trick is used by many and really any good leather conditioner or proper oil will do the job.

[zib]

Ryan,

You can email Tony directly, but I think he say's not to use any conditioner's other than the palm of your hand....

[Ryan82]

At this point I wish I did have the instructions, as I bought my TM strop from a third party vendor (Shaving Shop had a limited quantity of Tony's strops last year) and it didn't come with any.

It's not that my strop isn't functional; it works fine, albeit with a bit less draw than it had, I just wasn't sure if it required any further maintenance than the good ol' palm trick. Like I said before I thought I saw a post sometime ago from one of our Strop Section regulars that said latigo should be treated differently from other leathers. Maybe I'm just imagining things