Thread: Which Tony Miller Strop???

thought I would pass this on to you now you have ordered the 3" Latigo. DON'T break in the strop, use it as is to see how it feels. I tried breaking it in the traditional way and caused myself more work than was needed. I next tried 1000 grit wet and dry paper on the practice latigo strop Tony supplied with mine. This 1000 grit wet&dry worked a treat to polish the surface and even out the texture. Go gentle with it though. Also, I believe that strop dressing fluid is not needed for quite some time on a Latigo due to the high oil content of the leather.
Great strop though. for Tony

PuFF

Puff brings up a good point and one I advsie people on all the time. Every type of strop will behave differently because of what leather it is made from, often each individual strop made from the same type of leather will still behave differently since we are dealing with a natural material. He and I exchanged some very informative e-mails on his methods for preparing strops but not all will be good for latigo but sound like great methods for other leathers.

I know many guys here will do all sorts of interesting steps to break in a strop to get a desired feel. Please try your strops first for a week, as they are right from the box before making changes. While I include dressing with each hanging strop I rarely use it myself on the Latigo as it comes pre-dressed with oils and waxes in the leather from tanning. Give it a week before fooling with it and deciding if it needs adjustment.

Lathering, saddle soaping, mink oils, Pecard's, Lexol, Fromm's, etc....will all create different feels. Some for the better, some for the worse. use the latigo plain or with my dressing or with Lexol if you must.

Now one very worthwhile addition and one I am experimenting with came from Puff.....sanding with very fine paper to rasise a napp on the leather. The red on my paddles come to me this way from the tannery but the heavy hides do not. The sanding does add a nice feel to the strop.

If it ain't broke (yet <g>), don't fix it.

Thanks, Tony