Thread: dirty hands and "sticky" strop

So, with my job, my hands are dirty, and they aren't going to be clean after a shower or until sometime in november, I'm worried about pre conditioning my strop before a stropping with hands that have dirt and charcoal on them, any suggestions for alternatives?

Also, I've noticed that it feels like my strop has some sticky spots, where the draw gets really heavy and then light. I feel like I have a nice light pressure and stroke going so not sure if its me or the strop still needing to be broken in with some hand grease or maybe a drop of neatsfoot?

thanks folks!

I use the underside of my forearm to rub/clean/condition my strop most of the time.
I would give it a little time before treating it, what type of strop is it?

I can't think of a single modern strop that needs conditioning in the traditional sense before use.

You have to make a distinction between 'breaking in' and 'conditioning' in which the former is natural and merely means using the strop until it settles down (in the old days when strops were as stiff as old boots you really hard to break them in - there are not any new ones like that and normal use/hand rubbing will suffice), and conditioning with a tallow-based strop conditioner. The purpose of the conditioner is twofold, it can modify the draw (not recommended until you have got fully familiar with the strop in question) and to replace natural oils to strop the strop drying out - but this is not going to happen for maybe a year or more.

If I was you I would dampen a tea-towel, wring it right out, then scrub the top of the strop. Damp, not saturated or wet. That should alleviate some of the stickiness caused by gunge (tech term) thaqt has been stropped into the surface. Rubbing it with clean hands should be all you need.

If you cannot get your hands clean enough (my wife assures me that this is a common complaint of the male of the species) then use your forearm as suggested above.

Regards,
Neil

it is the 2 strap leather and poly strop from larry at whipped dog

My favorite strop is a TM latigo with linen. I acquired this strop used and it had patchy spots where the draw was different. The condiion seemed to worsen with hand rubbing over time. At some point, I concluded that a thin patchy grung buildup was occurring from my hand rubbing and possibly residues from the tanning bleeding out from the leather. I wiped the leather with a slightly damp cloth from time to time to clean off the grunge.

The strop does not get wet and dries almost immediately. My cloth showed some strop residue the color of the strop dye. After a while, the grunge buildup stopped happening and the strop was no longer patchy. The draw was even over the strop. I concluded that my fine TM strop was now broken in.

I now wipe the strop with my post shower dry hand before use and lightly with a slightly damp cloth every 2 or 3 months. Keeping the strop surface and razor clean is important. If I feel grittiness at any time, I stop stropping and rewipe the strop and razor with my hand or clean cloth.

HTH

definitely noticed some grunge coming off my hands today when I gave it a rub...did a quick towel off with a well wrung out towel...not sure if I have the guts to drench it in lather yet...gonna give it a couple monthes of the hand treatment and see if it evens out a bit, it still has some cupping in it that needs to be worked out as well...would that go away with a good lather? or just takes time?

on the other hand, I had a great shave today...nice marshmallowy lather some good strokes that came from a goods stropping...still working on those angles under the neck, but got my mustache area done well today...was a good day....ribs are baking..anything else???
cheers

Originally Posted by noobs

definitely noticed some grunge coming off my hands today when I gave it a rub...did a quick towel off with a well wrung out towel...not sure if I have the guts to drench it in lather yet...gonna give it a couple monthes of the hand treatment and see if it evens out a bit, it still has some cupping in it that needs to be worked out as well...would that go away with a good lather? or just takes time?

on the other hand, I had a great shave today...nice marshmallowy lather some good strokes that came from a goods stropping...still working on those angles under the neck, but got my mustache area done well today...was a good day....ribs are baking..anything else???
cheers

If it's a cheapie it's probably not cut from the ideal part of the beast or treated to optimise it so cupping & poorer performance is more likely. Once your skills & maybe finances allow, buy a more expensive strop & you'll see it's like night & day.