Thread: Which better strop treatment: Neatsfoot or Mink Oil?

The mink oil worked great. I rubbed it in with my hands and warmed the leater up and then pressed it with the side of a coffee mug. It smoothed out great and has a nice slick and smooth feel to the surface now. It even sounds better.

If your happy with it, that's all that matters. You do need to be careful when applying oils to leather. a little goes a long way. I have some Tandy leather myself, The 3" wide cowhide they sell for belting. It works great. I use it for paddle strops. See pic. I've not treated it with anything yet, other than rubbing it with my oily hand. Actually, I like the draw it has. I personally like strops with minimal draw, like Horsehide for instance, or SRD's Premium 1. The last paddle in the pic is SRD's English Bridle, the result of an unfortunate stropping accident.
(Never strop distracted!) That one was made by Nun2sharp....

Edit: Like Obie, I only rub my strops, hanging and other's with the palm of my hand.

Gentlemen,
I have six strops and have yet to use any type of oil treatment on them. Since the strops are rotated, the day's strop gets a good rubdown with the palms of my hands (before the shower, by the way) and that's it. As my good friend Neil Miller notes, daily rubdown with the hands and steady use do the job.

I agree about using as little treatment as possible. I think that the little bit of mink oil that I put on the surface leather followed by warming by rubbing with my palms, softened the surface to where it flatten when pressed with the side of a coffee mug. The Tandy leather is great except it comes from the store with a rough and uneven surface. Anyway, the surface is smoother and slicker now. I'm really happy with it and will keep rubbing it with my hands to warm it. But, no more surface treatments of mink oil because it's just right now.

+1 on that, I have also used both neetsfoot oil[on very old, dried up strop] mink oil, which can have an effect on the "Draw" of the surface, I personaly like it if used sparingly, and my favorite is Fromm Dressing, it if used in small amounts does, IMHO, do a good job of making older well used and some times abused strops come back to life!

YMMV, tinkersed

So anyone use "Mink Oil Paste", by rubbing a small amount onto the palm of you hands, and rubbing it into your strop, maybe every few months. ?

Just curios - ??????

I'll use a tad of neatsfoot every few months however I live in single digit humidity and the dry air draws the moisture out of everything (including me). Under normal humidity conditions I doubt I would have to use anything.

I use neats foot oil or saddle oil every 4-6 months and wipe them down with a water dampened rag monthly. Just a habit I picked up from my Dad. Mink oil can be a lot of things so be sure to read the ingredients list

My strop has been doing fine with just a palm rub when I walk past it.

Originally Posted by Maxi

Before you treat it with any chemicals, I highly suggest you rub it every day with an oily hand....for at least a month. See if that works first. Chemicals don't come out.

There are no chems in either