Old Horse Strop Part 2: Conditioning the leather side

I went to a horse store today called 'Thrifty Horse' in Norco, CA. They have saddles and such.

They had the beeswax I mentioned in the other thread.



I want to pamper my new old stock horse hyde strop. I want to massage a good leather conditioner in to it before I do the bottle break in so I don't stress it

My take on the best way to break in older hyde is to use one well choosen product and stick with it, instead of switching up and having a mixture of products and chemistrys.

The horse store had: saddle soap, neatsfoot oil (which wikipedia says you have to watch for neatsfoot oil that adds petrolium, which is bad for leather), lexol (both cleaner and conditioner) mink oil, and a product called 'hydroplane' which I can't seem to find on the net anywhere.

Most of these products say they waterproof the leather, which sounds like a good thing to me.

I hear lexol is good.

Someone on this board said they used mink oil.

My working assumption is modern products can serve a strop better then ole fashion shaving lather.

Has anyone figured out a really good product for the leather side of strops?

Clean it with saddle soap and condition it with mink oil. Another good product you can pick up at a saddlery is Belvoir Tack Cleaner Step 1. It comes in a squirt bottle, fairly cheap (a $5 bottle will last you for as long as you own the strop), it's non-acidic so it won't damage the stitching and it doesn't contain that crap they put into some cleaning products to deter the horses from chewing the tack. I've been using it for a while now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by icecow

Has anyone figured out a really good product for the leather side of strops?

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Yes, both DOVO and ISC figured that:

http://www.classicshaving.com/catalo...944/196078.htm
http://www.classicshaving.com/catalo...944/196060.htm

You can also contact Tony Miller, from The Well Shaved Gentleman, and see if he has some strop conditioner for sale.


Nenad

IC is lucky to have a saddlery full of great leather care products near by. The saddlery where I bought the Belvoir cleaner is about 500km (300mi) from my place. We were on a road trip and one of the friends I was with was a regular customer for her horse business. It's kinda funny that she didn't end up buying anything down there and I did.

Okay, my keep it simple plan. If the strop feels good now and is flat (don't get me started on the why a customer needs to spend hours on flattening and making his new purchase ready to use when it should come ready to use <g>) see how it works for you plain.....no soap, no oil, no nothing. If it works well try it for a while like that.

My suggestion. I think you said you got a NOS strop. It should still be clean and not need the soap. It may be a little dry and dressing would work. If you want to dress it and most Illinois strops do need dressing, use their product. Their dressing smells and feels like Lexol except it seems to have a few more solids in it so it feels thicker. Follow the directions on the bottle. Being an older Illinois product it will likely be a very nice strop.

All of the other methods mentioned are fine, they work well.....if the strop needs it. Old ones, dry ones, cheap ones, etc...... Some will work great new and stay that way. Some will start well and after a week being in a damp then dry bathroom will curl. These will need work for sure, A good dressing, rubbed well into the leather will help it not absorb moisture and curl up. Don't futz with stuff just for the sake of futzing........your day is busy enough as it is <g>.

Tony