which side of the strop to use ?

Hey guys as embarrassing as this sounds, I am new to the art of

stropping, and recently acquired a DOVO Extra Wide strop, it

has a light creamy felt like leather on one side, and a reddish

tough/brittle leather on the other side.

Which side of the strop do I use ?

From your description, I'd say the creamy softer side.

Any chance of a couple of pics of each side of the strop?

if the backside is rough and soft you could use that before the smooth side
if its hard id suggest only usingh the smoth/soft front

From the look of the pictures I'd say the cream coloured side. The other side doesnt look suitable for use with razors IMO.

The creamy-coloured side is the one to use.

Genuine Russian Calf (Echt Juchten) leather, the label says. Originally this leather was named after the country of origin - Russia - but today it is made in many places. The original stuff (it was made from a number of different animal hides, not just calf) was steeped in a liquor containing pine and willow bark, then treated with birch oil and seal oil. The birch oil gave a distinctive smell. It was then dyed in a mixture of cochineal and sandalwood, adding to the smell and giving the red colour associated with russian leather. The flesh side was usually left undyed. So, what we have here is a strop that does not use the grain (red) side as would usually be the case, but the softer fine suede-like flesh side.

Strangely enough, the first cologne-water was called 'kologne-juchten' because it had notes of this type of leather smell in it.

Regards,
Neil

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Neil Miller

The creamy-coloured side is the one to use.

Genuine Russian Calf (Echt Juchten) leather, the label says. Originally this leather was named after the country of origin - Russia - but today it is made in many places. The original stuff (it was made from a number of different animal hides, not just calf) was steeped in a liquor containing pine and willow bark, then treated with birch oil and seal oil. The birch oil gave a distinctive smell. It was then dyed in a mixture of cochineal and sandalwood, adding to the smell and giving the red colour associated with russian leather. The flesh side was usually left undyed. So, what we have here is a strop that does not use the grain (red) side as would usually be the case, but the softer fine suede-like flesh side.

Strangely enough, the first cologne-water was called 'kologne-juchten' because it had notes of this type of leather smell in it.

Regards,
Neil

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Wow.

Neil, where do you learn this stuff? I'm impressed!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShavedZombie

Wow.

Neil, where do you learn this stuff? I'm impressed!

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Thanks! I dealt in WWI militaria for a number of years and a lot of related stuff cropped up then. The russian leather (an oilier type) for instance was used for military gear: boots, pouches, etc, and of course they used straight razors. I used to get a lot of straights in WWI collections. The officers ones were often quite special, with specially commissioned engravings on the scales. Even the ordinary ones had the soldiers army number on, and often you could trace who they belonged to and what happened to them.

Just a bit of a magpie, really...

Regards,
Neil