Thread: How would you treat this leather to make a strop?

Originally Posted by DaveW

I'll offer a differing opinion. I wouldn't do anything to the leather if it's clean and smooth. Here's what I would do. I would clamp it to something (where the hardware would be) or fit it to something and for a couple of weeks, I would strop a razor on it 50 strokes each day - a different one that I was shaving with. A couple of weeks or a month of that will tell you what direction it's going. Once the surface is broken in a little bit, then you can try a strop on it with your razor.

Leave it hanging vertically so that it's not collecting any dust (which would throw off your perception) when you're not conditioning it.

I have never been a fan of overtreating leather for strops, you never know if you're helping the strop and change should be incremental if you make it, and not drastic.

IF you do that and it doesn't work out, then you can use a marking knife or some stout sharp knife against a straight edge and cut it and glue it smooth side up to a board. Personally, I prefer an even layer of liquid hide glue and significant clamping pressure where the leather is glued to a board and another is clamped right on top of it to distribute the force of the clamps. I've done that with horse butt and veg tanned cowhide and both have turned out great.

And to my point about not treating yet, my best strop is a piece of smooth horse butt about 2 feet long. It was rough at first (silica or whatever in the horse butt strips) but has settled in to a sheen that is near reflective and that does a great job. I used the same routine as I mentioned above. It has been my daily strop now for two years, and is better performing than any purchased strop I've had, despite the fact that it has never been treated with anything.

Hi the reason I was asking was because I have no clue. I haven't yet shaved or stropped a straight so this is all an attempt to get a basic set up, but one that has as few 'problems' as possible, to help me on my way to a better understanding. I do have it still hanging and would much prefer to have it nice and straight for my first stropping. Then if anything went wrong I'd know it was my technique rather than the strop.

[QUOTE=cudarunner;1251927]I can't speak for others but for myself, when Neil speaks, I listen and I listen very well!! He is a wealth of knowledge!!

He's also a great guy!

If you haven't read it already, you may find this very interesting!!

Straight Razor Place - Conversation with Neil Miller

Sanfte Rasur, mein Klingenbruder!

Or this thread, in case you were not sure about the advice given. Beginning with Thread 18.

Originally Posted by UKShaver

Hi the reason I was asking was because I have no clue. I haven't yet shaved or stropped a straight so this is all an attempt to get a basic set up, but one that has as few 'problems' as possible, to help me on my way to a better understanding. I do have it still hanging and would much prefer to have it nice and straight for my first stropping. Then if anything went wrong I'd know it was my technique rather than the strop.

Put it between two boards and clamp it tight for a long time. I don't know if you have the materials to do that, but you'd need a lot of clamping pressure, and the boards need to be smooth and clean so you don't leave anything in the leather.

You never know what you're going to get with something like this until you take a whack at it. I certainly wouldn't discard it, and at this point, i wouldn't even cut it - and wouldn't treat it with anything, either. Just keep it from getting wet and don't leave it on a furnace grate.

Neil and others have more obligations when making a strop than do you or I - theirs have to be cosmetically acceptable for sale and functional at the same time. Yours just has to be functional, and not everything that isn't suitable for neil would be unsuitable for the rest of us. I have dabbled with various types of plain leather as well as horween shell, so I'm not motivating you to work with junk. I think quite a bit of a strops virtue is in proper use and in burnishing the leather, at least if keenness and longevity of the razor is key.

As I mentioned above, I use a piece of inexpensive horse butt, it hasn't been treated with anything since the tanner and the virtue of the wear was enough that I had no interest in breaking in a kanayama I got a year or two ago, and sold that (a kanayama 80k, at that, the settled in horse butt does a better job and is harder and more similar to what new horween shell feels like). The only thing that matches the broken in horse butt (which is a cheap feeling hard leather when it's new, and it's abrasive and slick) is the horween shell, but the horse butt gets better over time, and the treatment wears off of the horween. There is a significant cost difference between a horween shell and a horse butt strip, though - and the horween is ready right away. (a single shell cost me $225 with shipping)

I cannot recall who I was discussing the horse butt strip with, but it may have been neil, and he or someone else rightly described it as a hard and cheap or cheap feeling leather. It's issue is that it needs a break-in routine that a strop maker is not going to be able swing economically, along with the fact that a lot of horse butt strips just don't have a very good run or runs of clear wrinkle-free smooth leather.

As an end user playing with your own time and not worrying about economic value of your strop, you can make something of that if you want to. You don't have horse butt, so the situation won't be the same, but you can break it in if you'd like, or compress it if you'd like, and do all kinds of things that are not difficult but would never be viable for a commercial maker.

My recommendation is the same as dave. It is warped as it is holding its form. If you break it in enough that it is limp it will no longer hold form and be flat enough to be usable. Will probably take a bit though. Good luck. Ed