Thread: Confusion on oiling my strop...

Personally I wouldn't do anything other than hand rub, unless its a vintage strop thats dryed out. The oils in your hand is all the conditioning a good strop needs.

I had a leather couch and two Ekornes chairs that were 20+ years old and looking pretty dry with almost all their color gone. I applied the neats foot to them doing several coats over several days and they are now soft and look like new. Would I apply it to my strop, NO

Forget what anyone's "instructions" are, just use as much as you need to bring the strop back to condition.

The only thing I've ever used on a strop, and that was once on a new strop and once on another that had dried out, was some Fromm's Strop Conditioner, and that was a dime sized dollop, other than that, you shouldn't have to do anything other than frequent palm rubbing.

Here is my rule:

New Strops: Palm rub daily with NO oil or strop paste.

Vintage Strops: Rub very little oil or paste at a time until it is suple again.

Another variable that has not been mentioned on the thread is your local climate, if you live in a very hot and dry climate you may need to apply oil or paste more frequently.

Originally Posted by Chasmo

I'd bet two dollars it's a Whipped Dog.

Chasmo

You may or may not be right. I simply did not want the member to get advice to oil or not
oil a strop until we know what the strop is.

Originally Posted by QuietListener

So I have a packet of Neatsfoot Oil (30ml) from Whipped Dog Straights. On the packet it says that I'm to "Apply sparingly, but regularly to leather strop." In Lynn Abrams "The World of Straight Razor Shaving" DVD he mentions only applying Neatsfoot oil to the strop once or twice a year, rubbing it in well and letting it rest a few days before wiping off the excess.

So which one is it? Do I only apply this once or twice a year or do I apply it frequently (like once a week or month)?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Apply a little to your hand -- not so much that a door knob would be nasty for the next person.
Then rub the surface of the leather. Once or twice a year is all you need.

If your hands are naturally oily you may never need it. Do you leave hand prints on clean glass?

30ml could last 25 years...

The problem with neatsfoot is most folks don't realize how little you need and overdo it. I use it all the time on my strops. I live in single digit humidity which sucks the moisture out of everything (including me).

I usually just wet my hands a bit with neatsfoot and rub it in really good along the entire strop. Probably hardly a drop or two in total and I only use it maybe twice a year.

I purchased a solid hard bar of carnauba wax from Amazon. Cleaned and wiped my hanging leather strop (soaked both sides with a sponge) in very warm water. Waited for the strop to air dry and rubbed the bar liberally on both sides of the leather. I use the flesh side of the strop (unfinished) in place of crox on balsa wood. Finish my stropping on the smooth side of the leather. My razors glide across the leather and the edge is very keen. I read this tip on various shaving forums

Originally Posted by feltspanky

I purchased a solid hard bar of carnauba wax from Amazon. Cleaned and wiped my hanging leather strop (soaked both sides with a sponge) in very warm water. Waited for the strop to air dry and rubbed the bar liberally on both sides of the leather. I use the flesh side of the strop (unfinished) in place of crox on balsa wood. Finish my stropping on the smooth side of the leather. My razors glide across the leather and the edge is very keen. I read this tip on various shaving forums

I'd be cautious about that. Once you seal the leather with wax you're really not stropping on the leather but the wax. Then also how do you keep the leather from drying out. Once the wax gets into the leather it will never come out.