Thread: Strop Leather

Sorry about the grammar...

Does anybody have any experience... :-)

Cheers
Péter

Originally Posted by szarvi

Has anybody have any experience with a material so called "hard rolled"
....snip...
I presume all leather will become softer when used,
....snip....
So probably my strop will also be somewhat softer - but not too much I guess. Is it too bad if I don't treat it with any oil?

As long as you remember that you only strop with the surface
you will be fine. Folk do make strops out of canvas, balsa,
oak and many many more materials.

So do not 'soak' or saturate the leather with neatsfoot oil,
do not soak or saturate the leather in water or lather to clean it...
Just minor surface applications of strop dressing on
the surface and it should be fine for a long time.

Folk rub their strops with their palm to transfer natural
oils to the surface and wipe bits of stuff off. That will always
work. Also a drop of strop dressing/ lanolin/ hand cream on your
hand and rub it in once a week, twice a month, once a month and enjoy.

Just enough strop dressing to leave finger/ palm prints on a window
but not so much your hand feels greasy.

Do rub/ warm up the strop with you hand each time you use it with no
special addition of anything other than elbow grease.

Originally Posted by szarvi

Sorry about the grammar...

Does anybody have any experience... :-)

Cheers
Péter

No worries about grammar. I'm sure your English is better than most of our Hungarian.

Along this line, I met the CEO of American Saddle Company last Saturday. It was interesting because the man is from India and he makes western saddles for the American market in India and imports them for sale here in the US. His leather is top notch and he owns the company that tans his hides. From what I could see, his saddles were top notch too. His styles weren't exactly what I'd go for but I'm old and set in my ways.

He had a saddle he had sold and he was oiling it per the customer's request to make the leather a bit darker. I asked him if he was using neatsfoot oil and he laughed and said, "Old traditions die hard."

According to him, neats foot oil is a fatty oil. He informed me that he preferred to use olive oil because it had less fat and would preserve the leather better in the long run than neats foot oil.

It was an interesting visit and I gained a lot of insight as to why a lot of the stuff coming out India is not exactly what you'd classify as good stuff yet there are some very remarkable products produced there.

I'm going to use olive oil on my old strop next time I decide to oil it and see ho wit works.

Originally Posted by Wullie

...snip....
Along this line, I met the CEO of American Saddle Company
....snip...
He had a saddle he had sold and he was oiling it per the customer's request
....snip...
According to him, neats foot oil is a fatty oil.
....snip...
I'm going to use olive oil on my old strop next time I decide to oil it and see ho wit works.

Hmmm.... yes old traditions die slow.

If you are cooking oil is fat and fat is oil so in part he is right.
I would use our favorite mineral oil or even Vaseline before I
would use olive oil because animal and vegetable fats oxidize
and go rancid (acid). They also have valuable rust preventative properties.

One or two drops on the palm of the hand..... and rub your two hands
together briskly then briskly rub the strop. Read the ingredients and
you will find that most hand creams can also work. Too much and
the strop gets slick...

And yes olive oil can work as can many other fats and oils that have been
rendered without salt (i.e. no bacon fat).

Try this for leather preservation......

Pacific Leather Works - Repair and Restoration of Fine Leather Furniture and Garments



Jerry
____

Originally Posted by Wullie

According to him, neats foot oil is a fatty oil. He informed me that he preferred to use olive oil because it had less fat and would preserve the leather better in the long run than neats foot oil.

I'm going to use olive oil on my old strop next time I decide to oil it and see ho wit works.

Saddles really bear no relation to strops but he may be right in that a lot of neatsfoot oil today is synthetic or a blend. I can't see any harm in natural neatsfoot oil.
I would be concerned with olive oil glazing or getting sticky on a strop & remember with my first strop purchase being told to treat only the flesh side & not the stropping side. I would be hesitant to oil the stropping surface of any strop unless you plan to alter it's action. If it's a home made strop tho altering it's action may be appropriate.

I use the dirt cheap mineral oil from local drug store for lubricating strops.
I had heard from somewhere that fatty oil, like olive oil, can get rancid.
(Which is accelerated if you use it on oil stones since they can get pretty hot.)
Is there some truth to that?

Olive oil, cooking oils in general will go rancid, however, using them as opposed to using neatsfoot, dubbin, lanolin or any other type of 'proper' leather treatment is a bit like choosing a Carbon steel razor over a Stainless one. It is a matter of opinion as to which does a better job. Yes Olive oil will go rancid over time, but neatsfoot used too liberally (a very easy mistake to make) will rot leather. It's a matter of personal preference. I choose to use products specifically made to use on leather rather than something I fry my bacon and eggs in, but that's just me.


Mick

Originally Posted by MickR

I choose to use products specifically made to use on leather rather than something I fry my bacon and eggs in, but that's just me.

Funny enough, I was told to use lard as a an option on the flesh side of strops but not olive oil.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Funny enough, I was told to use lard as a an option on the flesh side of strops but not olive oil.

I hope you mix a few teaspoons of Kero in that lard to stop the critters from eating it and your strop along with it Oz.


Mick