Pumice stone for resurfacing?

Thinking about resurfacing my homemade strop. I read about pumice stones in the wiki. If anyone has done this, what kind of pumice stone did you use? And once you got a consistent surface, you went at it with a glass bottle?

What I'm thinking of doing:

-Pumice it!
-Bottle it! Maybe with some neats foot?
-Once super supple, clean off excess neatsfoot, let it sit and dry up
-Hit it with some williams-lather and wipe it clean when dry

Also thinking about surfacing my linen side. It's just cotton webbing, but I was thinking of hardening it a bit, maybe with some wax or something.

Comments?

I use a pumice stone that I bought at the nearest drugstore. You can find them in the foot-care section.

I've used pumice on strops that I then used just as they were, and I've used it on strops that I treated with neatsfoot oil afterward. Both ways worked well for me, so I suggest you try using the strop after using the pumice but before treating it with the neatsfoot, and if you like the draw, leave it as is. If you don't care for the draw, then you can add the neatsfoot.

Good luck.

As long as the pumice stone is fine, flat and soft it will be OK. You can also use some fine sandpaper too.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

As long as the pumice stone is fine, flat and soft it will be OK. You can also use some fine sandpaper too.

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I'm sorry I failed to mention sandpaper in my first response, but I found that sandpaper actually works a little better than pumice because it's more uniform and it's easier to control the finish of the leather's surface by using different grit sandpaper.

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Originally Posted by marosell

Thinking about resurfacing my homemade strop. I read about pumice stones in the wiki. If anyone has done this, what kind of pumice stone did you use? And once you got a consistent surface, you went at it with a glass bottle?

What I'm thinking of doing:

-Pumice it!
-Bottle it! Maybe with some neats foot?
-Once super supple, clean off excess neatsfoot, let it sit and dry up
-Hit it with some williams-lather and wipe it clean when dry

Also thinking about surfacing my linen side. It's just cotton webbing, but I was thinking of hardening it a bit, maybe with some wax or something.

Comments?

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What is wrong with it?

Saddle soap followed by neats foot oil for baseball gloves much improved
one strop I had.

Once, in a fit of insanity I put too much CrOx on one side
and too much strop dressing and mink oil on the other.
I scraped it down with a copper chore boy kitchen scrubber
then applied a bit of neats foot oil and it is better than it was new.

If you sand it use 'excellent' quality paper that does not leave
grit in the leather. If you pumice it pumice can also leave bits
of grit so work it with a spoon handle or the back of a kitchen knife
to wear out any odd bits before a well polished razor sees it.

I have not used one on on a strop but some paint scrapers are well
sized and might have a place.

Pumice stone is good for the bulk of the work, then I like to finish off with micromesh to smoothen out everything.

niftyshaving: There are a couple places where a drop of water hit it. I tried to wipe it dry ASAP, but there are a few places where it looks "raised" because of a water droplet.

Also, I'm wondering if the lack of draw isn't stropping well. I made it by hand from leather I bought at a Tandy's (probably intended for a belt). Well, it was finished very finely, like sheet-of-glass smooth/shiny, and I'm wondering if something a little rougher would do my razors a bit more good.

I recently honed my razors nice and sharp, but they don't seem to hold their edges well. Every time I shave they pull slightly more, so I thought stropping on my DIY might be the problem. Dunno? Thought I'd try something though.

What grit are you guys thinking on the s-paper?

marosell if you put some neatsfoot oil on a rag or a paper towel and apply it sparingly to your strop it will increase the draw. A little goes a long way. Some guys have good luck just rubbing the strop daily with the palm of the hand. Natural oil from the skin goes in a little at a time.

The sandpaper or pumice stone will take the smooth finish off of the leather and make it a different surface entirely I think. Not necessarily a bad thing but I would try something less drastic first. BTW, the pumic stone I got at the beauty supply is aggressive. Way more than sandpaper in finer grits. As sffone said, I think the paper works better too if you go that route.

JimmyHAD: I've never really felt other strops. Are they all this smooth and shiny? I always imagined them to be.... softer, if that makes sense.

Also, something I'm worried about: If a drop of water makes a spot on the leather swell and be raised, what will putting wet lather on it do?

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Originally Posted by marosell

JimmyHAD: I've never really felt other strops. Are they all this smooth and shiny? I always imagined them to be.... softer, if that makes sense.

Also, something I'm worried about: If a drop of water makes a spot on the leather swell and be raised, what will putting wet lather on it do?

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The new strops I've gotten from SRD or Tony Miller have been soft, smooth and maybe not shiny but not rough either. I've gotten vintage strops that were a bit stiff and I've did the palm of the hand daily for awhile and they got better.

The old barbers used to put lather on them and rub them down with a bottle. I have never tried that and never will but I heard about it and IIRC read it in a barber manual. I know Tony Miller recommends the hand rubbing and if that still leaves the strop too dry a few drops of neatsfoot or something similar.

As far as that raised spot try rolling it out with a bottle on a flat hard surface. If that doesn't work maybe sand or pumice that one spot. That is what I would do anyway, maybe others will have some more experience with that and chime in.

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Originally Posted by marosell

niftyshaving: There are a couple places where a drop of water hit it. I tried to wipe it dry ASAP, but there are a few places where it looks "raised" because of a water droplet.

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I am glad I asked.

A drop of water should not hurt the leather and
justify a serious resurface.

Visit a shoemaker or Tandy and get some advice and
a chunk of leather to play with.... first.

In general you can soak leather in water and apply some leather
tooling tools to put your name in the top or bottom inch or so.

When it is wet rub it and buff it flat... you can even color it with tea.
If you rub the surface with the flat of a spoon when wet you can even
up a lot of imperfections.

When it is dry rub one drop of needs foot oil on your hand
then run your hand a dozen laps on the strop. Do that a
couple of times and it will soon be fine.

Well what about soaking the whole thing in some water and giving it a good hand massage and letting it dry out?

I will add some neats foot oil tomorrow and let you know how it turns out.

By the way, how do leather makers give it that shiny polished look? The reverse side is a very rough suede, it amazes me that they could get the other side so smooth.

If I'm not mistaken that is the top grain of the cow or the horse's hide. IOW, they don't make it that way, it is that way. Once it is roughed up there is no making it smooth again. At least not the way it was..... I may be wrong, I was wrong twice before. :)

One other thing in regard to wetting the strop.... here is a post by JimR with the maker of the Kanayama strop giving his instructions for care. I don't know if this applies to all strops but it is something to consider. Better safe than sorry.

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

One other thing in regard to wetting the strop.... here is a post by JimR with the maker of the Kanayama strop giving his instructions for care. I don't know if this applies to all strops but it is something to consider. Better safe than sorry.

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Excellent add to this thread.

The link by JimR is a good one....

I've made a number of strops and I've made two using the Tandy leather you mentioned. On both of them I ended up using 220 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper (used dry) to get rid of the glassy surface. One I left as it was, the other I put neatsfoot oil on. Both worked well. Perhaps the slick, un-sanded surface would work well enough; because, as has been pointed out, some of the old barber strops were quite hard and slick. I have a couple that are like glass. But I prefer a bit more draw which is why I sand the surface of the strops that I make out of natural leather. The strops I make from latigo work well without any surface treatment.

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Originally Posted by sffone

I've made a number of strops and I've made two using the Tandy leather you mentioned. On both of them I ended up using 220 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper (used dry) to get rid of the glassy surface. One I left as it was, the other I put neatsfoot oil on. Both worked well. Perhaps the slick, un-sanded surface would work well enough; because, as has been pointed out, some of the old barber strops were quite hard and slick. I have a couple that are like glass. But I prefer a bit more draw which is why I sand the surface of the strops that I make out of natural leather. The strops I make from latigo work well without any surface treatment.

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Some time ago Tony Miller was experimenting with a rough or maybe it was a scuffed surface on the horsehide strops. He carried them as an alternative item for awhile and then discontinued them. Keith from HandAmerican has also sold a two component strop with one smooth side and the other rough. I have one but I'm not that crazy about the rough side.