Thread: Best conditioner for this type of leather?

Bought this nos strop. It's not far off but it could use a touch of conditioning. I know the oil is not the way to go with certain types so I want to hear some opinions first.

This post from another thread, by Euclid440 is good advice for that strop IMO ;

Originally Posted by Euclid440

I have several strops, but vintage leather and linen are far and away my favorites. There is a stropping progression, and individual leathers will put a different edge on a razor, you will have to find out where each fit in a progression.

I would wet them, with a damp sponge on both sides of the leather, wait 15-20 minutes and wipe a thin coat of Ballistol or Neatsfoot oil on a paper towel, or mist with a small spray bottle, they are probably a little dry.

The water will moisten the leather and allow an even absorption of the oil. Wait a few days and see if it needs more.

He has given more detailed instruction on this type of thing but I couldn't find it at the moment. Maybe he will be along and expand on it if necessary.

Ballistol works so well on all leather. I have used it on both of my vintage shell horsehide strops with no problems. Check it out at ballistol.com
It is a good leather dressing , gun lube & lube for about anything you can think of. The Germans invented it during WW-1 to lube their guns & to keep their shoes from falling apart in the wet trenches of the battlefield.

Slawman

First clean it, with a damp sponge and wipe with a clean paper towel. If it continues to come off black, use a little bit of saddle soap and not too much water. You want to clean it, so you don’t work the dirt into the leather.

Keep wiping, with clean paper towels, until the towels wipe clean, no black. Your leather does not look too bad, but a very dirty strop, may take more than one cleaning, you don’t want to get the leather too wet, so you may have to let it dry and reapply saddle soap.

When you apply oil, Ballistol or Neatsfoot, do so on a damp strop. Wipe with a damp sponge and wait 15 -20 minutes for the water to absorb, then put a few drop on to a pad of clean paper towel and rub it in. I do both sides.

The trick is to rehydrate the leather slowly. Let it set for a few days, up to a week. If you feel it needs more, dampen again and wipe on a few drops more. Just remember it took many years to dry out, re-hydrate slowly. It can take months to properly bring back a leather strop.

Once you got it re-hydrated, then begin to work oil into the leather, some use a table leg, I use a thrift store rolling pin, suspended by the handles, from my roll up garage door track, with a couple pieces of coat hanger. Start almost straight and work the leather on the pin or leg to loosen up the fibers and add flexibility to the strop, make sure the leather is well hydrated or you will crack the leather.

Adding moisture, a once a week wipe down, with a damp sponge or microfiber and a couple drops of oil, will keep your strop in top shape.

The linen will wash up like new, soaking and washing, in Woolite and Oxi Clean and drying in the sun. It may take some long soaks, (overnight), a few washings and scrubbing with a finger nail brush, but it will come clean. There are several good post on washing linen.

Old linen, true flax linen, also is a joy to use and a real performer.

No black came up from either. I would say the leather was 75-80% of the way there out of the wax. It just needs that tweak of conditioning to pull it over the hump. It did come with two other nos replacement linens and those are in wax but maybe not in the box all these years so they do have some surface dirt/dust. One is scotch, one irish. My main strops for ages were 827, one modern, one vintage one which I currently use. Never liked illinois' cloth component too much, but 827 is an underrated strop for heavy grinds and kamisori. This strop is as thick as 1 1/2 of those with much better hardware

When I used Ballistol on my Jager Barber Supply shell strop that was really dried out I cleaned the strop first with saddle soap & let it dry 24 hours I then wiped the strop the ballistol on the full surface of one side then turned it over & treated the other side. I did this 5 times using less & Ballistol every time. It worked very well & I feel good sharing this info with anyone. I have also treated a belt & a pair of dried out work boots & they are really nice & supple.

Slawman