Thread: Oil for Strop

Let me ask another question that seems to need an answer here. I've never oiled a strop. Earlier this year I got a new SRD strop that SRD advised was not in need of any pre-treatment. It's a great strop and works wonderfully. My previous strop never received any oil either. If a strop DOES need to be oiled, how would I know? What are the indicators that oil is required?

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

Let me ask another question that seems to need an answer here. I've never oiled a strop. Earlier this year I got a new SRD strop that SRD advised was not in need of any pre-treatment. It's a great strop and works wonderfully. My previous strop never received any oil either. If a strop DOES need to be oiled, how would I know? What are the indicators that oil is required?

Excellent question.

+1 on Hidestoart had to say. His two cents is worth $100,00 dollars in my book. I have followed his suggestions for one of my strops and if I could do to my skin what it did to my strop I'd look an immature twenty year old again.

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

Let me ask another question that seems to need an answer here. I've never oiled a strop. Earlier this year I got a new SRD strop that SRD advised was not in need of any pre-treatment. It's a great strop and works wonderfully. My previous strop never received any oil either. If a strop DOES need to be oiled, how would I know? What are the indicators that oil is required?

The question has been answered before - many times. The waxes and oils used during tanning stop the fibres that leather is constructed from from losing too much water. When the fibres lose water, they contract. There is a point when they lost so much water that they cannot expand again - up to that point, they can take on water, so the effects of drying can be reversed if caught in time.

The purpose of oil and wax in conditioners (and in tallow and other shaving creams that are oil rich) is to seal the surface somewhat to slow down the escape of water. However, water has to be a part of the dressing, otherwise we are not rehydrating the leathers. This is where the old barbers technique of lathering strops comes into its own. The water goes into the leather, a proportion of it drying off, leaving a film of oil on the surface which helps to seal in the water.

Sometimes glycerine is used as it attracts and traps water vapour. It is a constituent of many shaving creams and is to be found as one of the constituents of saddle soap, which als contains waxes and neatsfoot oil. Saddlesoaping is a good alternative to trying to find a rich oil based mug soap. It also cleans the leather.

You can get away with an oil/wax dressing before dehydration has taken place, as all you are doing then is adding to the partially stropped away, partially oxidised oil/wax that was present, thus slowing down the rate of dehydration.

Telling when to apply the dressing, etc, is a matter of experience. You can put it on far too soon (say within the first year or so of having a new strop) or far too late. Signs that indicate that it is soon going to be too late include:

(a) a dry feel to the surface - on full grain leathers this means that the grain feels dry and a bit crumbly
(b) slight cracking or crazing of the surface of the strop
(c) some ridges develop that cannot be explained away, that is they are not from folding, storing bent, etc
(d) cracking of the leather if it is lightly folded back on itself - supple leather does not crack so easily.

Another thing that call for dressing is when the strop has been wetted - if wetted (soaked!) in patches and allowed to dry, the wetted areas will be darker and harder than the rest. It is best to re-wet and lather/saddle soap in these circumstances.

It is best to bear in mind that any wetting or treatment of the strop is likely to result in a colour change. Bear that in mind before you do it.

If you intend to use oil like neatsfoot, use it on both the back and the front in very limited quantities. You want to be able to spread it very thinly, so ball up an old lint-free cloth and drop a few drops of oil on it. Then have a plant mister handy - use it to lightly mist the strop and then work the balled up cloth with the oil on it over the surface. The water-misted surface will ensure that not all the oil is sucked out of the strop straight away.

That might sound odd, until you consider the various stropping leathers and the tanning regime they have undergone. Some, like vegetable tanned leather (eg the slightly suede-like surfaced cowhide Dovo uses, and full-grain smooth surface cowhide) are very dry - they will suck anything wet or oily up like a sponge. Oiling these is best done from the back as the surface, particularly the suede-like/napped surface, will be severely compromised if done from the front.

Some veg-tanned leathers are dyed, but still very dry.

The finer latigos are not as oily as the latigos of yore, but are subject to both oil and wax in the tub tanning process. If latigo feels dry but supple to the hand, it does not need additional oil.

Mexican tanned latigo is very close-grained - to such an extent that it is stiff and board-like. It has also been tub-tanned using oil and wax. Good luck to you if you can force it to take on any more oil!

English bridle is another that is usually subjected to both oil and wax - some are so waxy you can scrape it off in sheets from the surface - this type is not good for strops. The other type hardly ever needs oiling (see above for signs).

Shell cordovan is primarily vegetable tanned but undergoes additional steps, including an oil/wax step. It sometimes has so much oil/wax hot-stuffed into it, that at cold temperatures it migrates to the surface and can be readily seen. If this happens, just use a dry lint-free cloth to remove the waxy deposits. It seldom needs any additional treatment for many years.

Pull-up leathers. These have an extreme amount of oil and wax in them - so much so that if you bend or pull them (hence the name) the oily waxy nature becomes apparent and the leather appears to change colour. This type of leather is very weather resistant, but some are more lightly stuffed with oils and wax and are suitable for strops.

Pull-up leather - indeed, any of the tub-tanned oil/wax treated leathers - are proof positive that wax penetrates the leather rather than just sits on the surface. The example of it sitting on painted metal work is rather foolish - metal is non absorbent, so where else is the wax to go? Most leather tanning has a fatliquoring stage where fats, oils and waxes are fixed into the leather. One of the best stropping leathers ever made - Russia leather - had a special stage that preserved it from mould, drying and dessication - a preservative waxing along with oil distilled from birch.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

The question has been answered before - many times. The waxes and oils used during tanning stop the fibres that leather is constructed ...

Thanks Neil - I'm saving this one!