Thread: "warped" strop

Last year, I bought a DOVO "Extra Wide" Russian Leather Strop. Recently, I've noticed that when I strop, it looks warped and the entire edge doesn't consitently make contact with the leather. I keep it hanging in my bathroom.

Is this normal or is the humidity in bathroom warping it? or should I just get another strop?

Thanks!

Hello, JerseyCop:

When it comes to the straight razor world, humidity can become a nuisance. I assume, humidity is partly responsible for the warping of your strop. Perhaps one of the SRP strop experts can wax more poetics about what other causes might be responsible.

Regards,

Obie

I had the same strop, do the same thing. and it was not kept in the bathroom. What I did was to soak it in Neatsfoot oil, and let it sit overnight. I then soaked it again. Wiped off the excess, and pressed it between 2 boards with a few pounds of weight on it. a few days later, the excess oil had soaked into the boards, and the leather was nice and flat.

I have not yet put it to use, so only time will tell if this truly worked, or just looks like it did. And it did make the leather much darker than it was before.

Had to wash the linen side out after too, as it got oiled. Duh!

If you do a lot of oil on that strop it may do it more harm than good. If you take a look at this thread here and read about the old barber's lathering a strop to recondition them you may have better luck. A couple of posts within the thread give comprehensive instruction.

Just read all those posts and the articles. I can only speak for my strop, when I say it felt like it had been dried out from improper storage, and my friends in the leather biz said to oil it up well. Its true, the draw was a bit on the sticky side with this, but the leather was starting to feel brittle before.

Now that its flat and smooth and no longer dry, I will lather it up as per the instructions. and give it a go. I can only assume, that the excess oil on the surface of the strop will be cleaned by the lather, and the draw will improve. Keep in mind, that the old leathers (of all sorts) were often tanned with acids. and the vegetable tanned leathers of today will react differently to the oils and conditioners, so YMMV

Steve