Thread: Am I breaking this in right?

I've had my new RR Horsehide Strop for awhile now, and the razor still just kinda zings across the strop with little draw. I have been rubbing the strop with my palm, but the breaking in seems to be taking forever.

So, I used a little neatsfoot oil in the palm of my hand and rubbed it into the strop. Since you really only make contact with the outside edges of your palm, I constantly moved the oil in the center of my palm to the outside edges as I worked. The strop did turn a little darker in streaks, and then evened out overnight.

I seem to have a little more draw now, but I'm wonding if I should use more oil, maybe on a paper towel or sponge, and keep going till the color is a bit richer and the draw is exactly the way I want it.

On the other hand, I'm thinking less is better and I should give it some time, just giving it more hand rubs and only adding some more oil in a couple of months if the draw is still weak.

Any thoughts?

Horsehide (aka cordovan) is very fine and never really has any draw at all - it is extremely slick. If draw is what you are looking for, get latigo or bridle leather.

Most of the new Horsehide strops out there these days and Cordovan too for that matter, start out with virtually no draw. They are pretty slick. This is even more the case with the guys who use a thicker gauge. They can really take months to get broken in even if you hand rub them every day. I normally use a couple of generous applications of neatsfoot oil and rub it in very well. Then I let the strop sit for a day or two and try to rub the strop daily with my palm until you can feel your palm getting warm. Even this can take a couple months before you start getting some decent draw. If you like a lighter draw, you can be more sparing with the neatsfoot oil. Eventually these strops end up with a decent draw in my opinion. Some of my old vintage Shell strops, have outstanding draw and feedback when stropping.

Have fun,

Lynn

* Noob advice advisory, what I'm about to say is from my very noob experience, I am no expert, just telling you my experience. *

I felt the same about a latigo I bought from SRD. The strop felt sort of "dry" as in my razor seemed to just slide over it and I got the feeling this likely had little to no effect on the razor. Using the same stropping technique on my first practice cheapo strop seemed to produce way more draw and felt to me more useful.

When I decided to upgrade my razor to a dovo from Straight Razor Designs I added some neatsfoot oil strop conditioner to the order. I'd read that using too much was a bad thing, so I decided to take a long time applying it to the strop, only adding the smallest amount one day at a time until I got it to where I liked it. Here's what I did each day:

- Dipped a Q-tip into the neatsfoot oil.
- Slid the q-tip around on the strop making S patterns along its length.
- After oiled up from the q-tip I then ran my palm along the strop MANY times to work the small amount of oil into the leather, I would say at least 100 laps (my arm got sore, there's a good measure hehe).
- After working it in with my palm I took a cotton cloth and wiped the strop (to remove any oil that didn't get worked in, figuring surface oil laying on the strop would attract dirt). There really wasn't anything to wipe off (the cloth smelled and looked pretty clean after), but I figured might as well.

I did this for 3 or 4 days, can't remember exactly. After the second time the strop started getting softer, and stropping with it the next morning would get better and better (and by that I mean more like the draw I had on my other strop and what I was going for).

I think that was a good way to go about it, an extremely small amount a little at a time until I got it where I liked it.

From then on I've just been rubbing my strop with my palms before each strop with the razor every morning. I've also noticed that the draw is improved the more I do this, I think this is because my shaving bathroom is in the basement and the leather is cold in the morning and rubbing it warms it up and softens it up a bit.

I hope my noob advice helps you some, and maybe experts will weigh in with a more learned opinion.

Great advice.

The Latigo's also start off a little slick. Once you get past the oils and waxes from the tanning process, they have a very nice or heavy draw. Using less neatsfoot and more rubbing is key with them. It usually only takes a couple weeks to get past the leeching with a couple small applications of neatsfoot oil and daily hand rubbing until the palm gets warm.

Lynn

Originally Posted by ziggy925

I've had my new RR Horsehide Strop for awhile now, and the razor still just kinda zings across the strop with little draw. I have been rubbing the strop with my palm, but the breaking in seems to be taking forever.
....snip....

I have a shell horsehide strop and it is a lot smoother than
my other cowhide strops.

Since you have already added a strop dressing just use it
for a while and see where it settles at.

Two things will happen. One is that the strop will settle in
and two you well develop a feel for your strop.

If my two used shell strops are any indication, after a generation
it will still feel smoother and faster than cowhide, but better.

Do not rush it. I tried rushing a strop once and it took months to
remove the excess gunk I foolishly put on it.

Originally Posted by ziggy925

I've had my new RR Horsehide Strop for awhile now, and the razor still just kinda zings across the strop with little draw. I have been rubbing the strop with my palm, but the breaking in seems to be taking forever.

Any thoughts?

Ziggy,
If you read Ken Rup's Web site You'll see that he states "I work the leather so that no breaking in is required. The Paladin [El Toro, Filly] comes ready to use and will last for a lifetime."

I purchased a 3" horsehide strop from Ken and did nothing to it. It tunes up my razor's edge just fine and I only rub the strop with my bare palm daily.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

Originally Posted by Morty

Ziggy,
If you read Ken Rup's Web site You'll see that he states "I work the leather so that no breaking in is required. The Paladin [El Toro, Filly] comes ready to use and will last for a lifetime."

I purchased a 3" horsehide strop from Ken and did nothing to it. It tunes up my razor's edge just fine and I only rub the strop with my bare palm daily.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

I read the site before getting the Paladin. While I love the strop, I do not like the feeling of little or no draw. I realize the strop will work without conditioning, but... You mention the Filly, which was my first strop, and a lot of other's first strop, too, but that had a nice draw right out of the box.

Once the Paladin gets a better feel to it, for me, it looks like it will last more than several lifetimes. Leather, hardware, and even Ken are all first rate.

ziggy,

I have a horse-hide paddle, which when new was more slippery than PTFE

+1 on the advice of application of neatsfoot oil and the hand-rubbing.

You will find that a combination of this and just plain using it, the draw will increase to a degree. If you need greater draw than you get from the treated horse-hide strop, then as suggested previously, a different leather might be better for you. The draw of the leathers on my paddles, in descending order, with most draw at top, are:

Mexcian latigo
Bridle
Buffalo
Tallow Tanned
Horsehide

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

I'll say what everyone knows to be the best way to break a strop in but won't utter it. To administer corporal punishment to those youngans with a mind of their own.