Thread: Rubbing lather on strop for maintenance - good or bad?

I read an old shaving book and in the caring for your strop section the book advised that one should rub their strop with lather with his hand. The book explains that this is especially a good idea when the strop becomes slick, and requires more friction. I was wondering if this is a valid concept. The book actually advises against paste in this case.

Thanks

Old soap is typically quite different from new soap, so I'd be careful what you rub on there.

I'm not sure what book you are referencing, but in many cases, a book is simply the author's opinion. Just as any post on this forum is just the author's opinion.

I would think that was when soap was Tallow based...

+1 to what has already been said, the occasional rub down with your palm is all most strops need. If it was good enough for my grandfather's strop then it is good enough for mine.

Just remember to do so before a shower.

Williams and Mitchell's Wool Fat soap do work, I have personally tried those two,, anything else use at your own risk...

The nice thing about this system, is that if you rub down the strop after the first application with a rough terry cloth rag it helps clean the leather too.. Then do the routine of coating it with lather, and letting it dry, and rub it in with your palm after it is dry...

Um, Glen, I think the older Williams soap would work just fine, but the new stuff is no longer tallow based, is it?

Originally Posted by Utopian

Um, Glen, I think the older Williams soap would work just fine, but the new stuff is no longer tallow based, is it?

I have no idea honestly, I only know it worked pretty darn good....
I wouldn't be surprised if other soaps work too, after all if it is good for your skin it should be good for leather

I just haven't personally tested any others...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I wouldn't be surprised if other soaps work too, after all if it is good for your skin it should be good for leather

Well, maybe not. Soap gets rinsed off of your skin but residue stays on your strop. I'm not sure all of the various sundry and unpronounceable stuff in modern soap is necessarily good for your strop. Of course, I am ignorant on this. The only soap I have EVER put on a strop is saddle soap, which is made for leather.

The new Williams still has tallow, just not as much as the old one (according to the order of ingredients listed on the labels).

I have tried this on a vintage strop I restored using Arko which is tallow based, it seemed to work fine but I don't think it really conditioned the leather much if at all. I noticed a slight increase in draw, but nothing to really make it something I'd do again. Keep in mind that tallow, while it once was beef fat, is no longer so - it has been saponified (made into soap). Also every strop is different, so YMMV.

I think the theory works on the thought that many soaps are super-fatted, newer soaps do this now to introduce beneficial lipids, but I would assume that the older soap makers would do so because (at the time) soap companies wouldn't have surface chemists working for them and as such would err on the cautionary side to eliminate as much lye as possible in the solution to keep customers returning. Of course this was at a time when people actually had pride in their work and knew that a name meant something, but that's another rant for another day.
Of course the glycerine produced from the fats could also be what is helping the strop, I don't know. I'm not a leather person.