Thread: Strop Leather

Originally Posted by MickR

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.

Ya remember that old Black Beauty, Mick ?

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Ya remember that old Black Beauty, Mick ?

Yup. Don't tell me you let the critters git it after I put in all that effort on helping you restore it it?!


Mick

Originally Posted by MickR

Yup. Don't tell me you let the critters git it after I put in all that effort on helping you restore it it?!

No , it's fine it seems the critters here don't like pork

I actually meant before you restored it. That was the lard treated leather.

Yes i knew what you meant, but I just had to have a poke at ya anyway.


Mick

Ok so after reading all this I realized that I alwyas thought you oil the stropping side. Now I'm new to straight razoring and my dovo is in the mail so I've never made this mistake but can I please get some clarification? Oil the flesh side to soften and lather the strop side to condition?

Oiling the flesh side will help soften & condition the strop. Anything applied to the stropping side can/will affect the draw. A newly bought strop is unlikely to need much more than an occasional rub with the palm of the hand or wrist on the stropping side.

So I have my home made strop and I wanted to make it more flexible and change its draw as well (post #20). I decided on using neatsfoot oil anyway (no scientific reason though, just thought that both the oil and the strop was made from a cow so they kind of go together :-)

I applied the oil to both sides of the strop hoping that it's going to change the draw as well, but did nothing to it. The amount of oil I applied (in three sessions) seemed to be generous on the strop, but was only about 0.4-0.5 fl oz altogether (surface of strop is 7x70cm). But the oil could not penetrate the leather and I did not want to soak it.

I read somewhere that though neatsfoot oil has a liquid consistency on room temperature, it might be a good idea to heat it up a little before use so it can get into the pores of the leather more effectively. I didn't do it before, but decided to do it after. I took a hair-dryer and for about 10 min I heated the strop up gently and evenly both sides while it was laying flat on the table. It worked great, and turned out that I had applied a little too much oil... But it's fine altogether now. Now it is thoroughly oiled and flexible like a rubber band. Perfect.

The draw didn't change, it was still feeling like stropping on hard wood so I took a 400 grit waterproof sandpaper and gently sanded it and wiped it off with my palm and repeat. Now it has a veeery thin layer that is kind of soft like plush but at the same time it is still hard and shiny underneath. Time will tell, but at the moment I feel that it performs much much better than it did.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Peter

Weeeell, I hope it works out for you mate, in the long run.


Mick

Sorry to butt in. I work with leather and have made myself a strop. I use it on camping knives, axe's, carving knives etc..

Question I have is (sorry new to razor stropping) should I be using the smooth or rough side of the leather? Also is a stropping paste really nessesary or can I just rough it up a little with sandpaper?

Originally Posted by MSkiba

Sorry to butt in. I work with leather and have made myself a strop. I use it on camping knives, axe's, carving knives etc..

Question I have is (sorry new to razor stropping) should I be using the smooth or rough side of the leather? Also is a stropping paste really nessesary or can I just rough it up a little with sandpaper?

Use the smooth side. and you should not need to use sandpaper unless you are restoring a nicked area. pastes should never be put on the strop you use daily, they are for refreshing the blade. the only thing i use on my hanging strops are neats foot oil and the oils from my palm.