Thread: Strops and lather

I've read posts on here of members soaping up their strops to increase draw. To each his own, but I wouldn't do it, nor do I condone it. If you want more draw, buy a latigo strop, or a strop with more draw. I can't see rubbing soap into fine quality leather. It makes no sense, especially since this was thought up by some barber in the 1920's or thereabouts. A cheap 10.00 piece of leather from Tandy, maybe, A strop from SRD, Tony Miller, Kanayama, etc...I don't think so.

P.S. Cleaning vintage strops is something entirely different.

(And one more suggestion: get yourself some William's shaving soap. Before you leave for the day, after shaving, disassemble your strop and lay the leather on a flat surface. Cover the leather with a good coating of lather made from the William's. When you return that day, or the next morning, the lather will have dried. Hold the strop over the sink, or a garbage container, and with your hand rub off all of the dried lather. Reassemble the strop and rub with your palm as before until it feels very smooth and non-sticky. You might notice a nice difference in the feel of the strop after doing this. )
This is from the wiki.
I was not suggesting anyone do anything like that or put anything on a NEW strop. I merely asked a question. Since lather affects the performance of a stone, I wondered if anyone here had experimented with it on a strop while stropping.