Thread: how to prepare a Tony strop

This weekend I received my 3inch honey brown #1 heirloom Tony Miller strop.
When I opened the package I was truly awed by the supple feel of the leather.

So much that I decided not to use that beauty at the moment and use the second strop until I know what I am doing

That one is very dark red, and has a totally different feel from the honey brown. It almost feels 'painted' for want of a better word.

What do I need to do to prepare it for its first use?
Tony's paper talks about strop dressing, but in a previous post he said he prefers rubbing with the palm of his hand.

But does that also apply to the dark red/brown leather?

The best way to prepare one of Tony's strops for use is to hang it up, pull it taut and run your razor up and down it in a stropping motion about 30 times. Thats it.

The dark red sounds like the Latigo and is even more ready for use than the honey brown if thats possible.

Bruno,
The main strop, the Honey Brown is best used as it is for at least the first two weeks. While if has a low draw it will do the job fine as most discover. It's not always in the draw and I have learned. I actually like the lower draw particularly on full hollow and more "delicate" feeling razors. The heavier draw I like for the heavier razor but either will do a fine job on any razor.

If the dark chocolate/burgundy/brown "second" has a smooth painted type finish it is not my red latigo. Mine will be very firm but a lighter red and waxy feeling. On my seconds I use leather from a variety of sources as long as it works. Most is either honey brown or red latigo that I would not use on my forst quality strops and some are left from when I bought leather from a different source but decided not to incorporate it into my products. That leather is very smooth but will strop a razor to sharpness. Remember, these seconds are primarily for beinners to learn on, not to be the perfect stropping tool.

I would use it as is too, rubbing with the hand. The dark red is prone to cuppoing but can quickly be reverse flexed and will flatten out. The Honey Brown is unlikely to have this issue but if it did it is easily coaxed back to flat with little effort. I remember that a cupped loom strop was your motivation for getting a hanging strop anyway.

If you have any issues just send me a PM or e-mail.

Tony

I'll second Tim on this one. Tony's strops are good to go. Just rub it about 10 times up and down before stropping to warm up the leather.

I received the Honey Brown strop with a kit and used it as it was for the first week or so. Being that this was all new to me, I was worried that the strop wasn't conditioned right (I wasn't getting that 'draw" everyone talks about), so got some pumice and rubbed it down --cleaned it well --then I lathered up some shaving soap and conditioned the strop with it , letting the soap dry and then burnishing it with a glass bottle. Well. to cut things short, don't worry about it --it works just as well as is. Don't expect to get a lot of draw, and , in my humble opinion, does a great job stropping your razors.

Justin