Quote Originally Posted by furir View Post
Hello all,

I read here in the forum that you use neatfoot oil to recondition your strops, how about almond oil, does it work in the same way, or is it a big no no? I found this when I searched the wikipedia for almond oil.
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I suspect there are a couple of things to balance here.

If the leather gets 'dry' then neatsfoot oil should
be at the top of your list but only in small amounts.
Another product to look at are wax products like
"Proofide" or Mink oil but only once or twice a year
and only a little bit. Discussion on saddle care make
the point that too much oil has issues with making leather
stretch and those that end up with cupped strops should
take note.

Many of us tinker with our strops to improve the draw.
Improving the draw and "oil" are at odds with
each other. Oil tends to make things slick, so to improve
the draw the thinnest layer of a natural wax that will
oxidize and get a little gummy makes sense.
Normal skin oil does this so those that hand rub their
strops prior to use each day are the winners in this game.

Lanolin should be near the top of the list for improving draw.
One drop first rubbed on the hands and then hands rubbed into the
strop can compensate for those of us that have dry skin hands.

Vegetable oils are not famous as strop conditioners but the
same trick, one drop on the hands then rub the strop might
work but I think that it would make the strop slicker than lanolin.

Camila oil is another possible. Some folk apply it to their
blades each day and that process would leave some on
their hands and then rubbing the strop would transfer a
key but small amount to keep a strop fine and dandy. Having
a small amount of camila oil in the strop leather may protect
the fine edge a bit.

Pure products are critical. Some needsfoot oil for baseball
gloves may be 80%+ machine oil and simply contain some
neatsfoot oil. My Camila oil contains too much liquid paraffin
and while it protects blades well it is not ideal.

Recommendation... rub the strop with your hand and
if you happen to use a hand lotion read the ingredients
as most are 'mineral' oil based. Mineral oil can be OK for
leather but is less than ideal for improving the draw.