Thread: Olive oil as strop conditioner

I read on RazorCentral that olive oil should be used instead of other commercial products as the prefered hanging strop conditioner. I've also read that olive oil is a poor substitute for a commercial conditoner. What's real?

Tim

I used olive oil on my strop first and it worked for about a week, then it seemed to dry up. Mink oil was next and it's still doing a great job months later. It's leather after all so it's a leather conditioner that you should be using.

X

Makes perfect sense. I've used mink oil to water-proof boots since I was a kid. The RazorCentral site talks about a "yellow" fat and mink oil sure seems to fit the description. How often do you conditon your strop?

As often as it needs it. It's been about 5 months and there's no sign of needing more yet. Lynn recommends rubbing your hand along the strop daily, so I do. I guess the oils from your hand help keep it conditioned.

X

Thanks. Last question: I've got a canvas portion to my strop. I've read about conditioning it with a bar of soap and a glass bottle. Is this a good idea?

Tim

Hey Tim,
Another concern with olive oil is that it can go rancid over time.
The yellow fat that is mentioned is likely a strop paste like Dovo makes. Comes in a small tube with a yellow stripe. It is used as a conditioner for the leather strop and is a fat-based product. I use this paste, and also the strop dressing by Fromm/Illinois. Commercial products are fine.
A canvas (also called linen) strop doesn't need conditioning. You can treat it with different things to change the stropping properties a bit, if you like. If the linen is plain, I would leave it that way. You can also add something like Dovo white paste, which is basically a chalk-based paste. Adds a slight amount of abrasiveness, but is typically considered a polish for the edge.
I've accumulated several linen strops (paired with leather strops), and use both plain and (white) pasted on the linen. After honing, I do use the white pasted linen as my last step before stropping on leather.
Here's a little more info on the Dovo strop pastes.
http://www.classicshaving.com/catalo...944/196078.htm
As far as treating a linen strop with soap goes, I do know that it is something that is done, but I'm not sure what the purpose/benefit is. Hopefully someone else will comment on this.
Happy stropping.
Parry

I didn't do anything to the linen with my strop. Just be sure to remove it before going at dressing the leather. And don't go nuts with the dressing. Use only as much as will get the job done.

X

Originally Posted by xman

Lynn recommends rubbing your hand along the strop daily, so I do. I guess the oils from your hand help keep it conditioned.

X

You are correct. The oils from your hands are acting as a conditioner for the leather.

We use wooden weapons for training at our dojo. New weapons are easy to spot, as they are very light in color and a bit tacky when you try to slide them in your hands. Weapons that are a few years old take on a darker color, as well as sliding easier in your hands -- sort of like baby powder on a pool cue.

I have to agree leather conditioner like lexol, bic or stropp dressing is the way to go. I also have heard that oils like olive oil can go rancid over time. I find that living in the S.W, though the strop doesn't need to be conditioned because its still got plenty of draw to it it has a tendency to dry out so every few months I have to condition it.

Also I find with some of the old vintage strops I have they are so polished from use that they really have no draw no matter what I do unless I try and roughen up the surface somewhat but they still work fine anyway so I really don't know how important the draw really is.

As far as the linen goes unless they get real dirty I don't mess with them.

Originally Posted by sensei_kyle

You are correct. The oils from your hands are acting as a conditioner for the leather.

Also, mixed with the collected dust on the strop, this is a good way to introduce dirt and gunk to your strop It works well, but I stoped doing this...

Nenad