Thread: The traditional way to break in a new strop?

The lead part makes sense. It was probably the best material that would have been readily available at the time for burnishing the surface of the leather. It would be easier to polish lead than just about any material and it would still be firm enough to compress the surface leather.
I wonder if the urine might make the leather softer or somehow more receptive to that manner of tooling than just water alone?

Here's a link. He's discussing his ideas on breaking in strops on page twenty...and relating his thoughts on running your tongue over your hones on page sixteen.

Essay on barbers' razors, razor hones, razor strops and razor honing ..

That's a pretty interesting book, thanks for sharing.

Hmm... I was wrong.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Leather processing and getting a strop ready for use are a bit different...

Now if you go Shoot a Deer, Elk or Moose, and decide to make a strop out of part of the hide then the "Stale Urine and Brain" processing might be something to look into..

Glen's not kidding here. One of my books is about tanning - using groud up or pureed brain. I asked a friend from TX how he tanned. 'We just put the hide in a bucket and peed on it.

The book came w/ a tiny sample of deerskin - like soft, new chamois.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I have plenty of one of the required items.

I've got plenty of both... Pee and Lead, that is. Now the brains part is questionable.

After reading this , I'm glad I never bought any vintage strops . I wonder when they stopped using urine .

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Leather processing and getting a strop ready for use are a bit different...

Now if you go Shoot a Deer, Elk or Moose, and decide to make a strop out of part of the hide then the "Stale Urine and Brain" processing might be something to look into..

That's right - urine was/is used, and an old backwoods saying is that any critter has enough brains to tan its hide. Brain tanning makes a nice soft leather.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by HNSB

The lead part makes sense. It was probably the best material that would have been readily available at the time for burnishing the surface of the leather. It would be easier to polish lead than just about any material and it would still be firm enough to compress the surface leather.
I wonder if the urine might make the leather softer or somehow more receptive to that manner of tooling than just water alone?

Lead was used a lot - I have a recipe for it and whiting from the 1800s somewhere, and a lead bar was standard issue with army razors once. If they couldn't get a lead bar, a pewter bar was used - but this was the old type of pewter that contained lead, the new stuff does not. There must be something about the lead that helps - a sort of lubricant, maybe?

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by JoeBass

Here's a link. He's discussing his ideas on breaking in strops on page twenty...and relating his thoughts on running your tongue over your hones on page sixteen.

Essay on barbers' razors, razor hones, razor strops and razor honing ..

Urine was traditionally used in the preliminary stages of tanning to remove the hair from the skin. It was also used to freshen (!?) and soften leather, but it had to be kept for some time before use, until fermenting, by which time it had copious amounts of ammonia in it. The leather that Napoleon LeBlanc probably had in mind was the old, traditional russian tannned leather. It was really stiff, and had to be broken in and softened before use. Modern rusian-tanned leather is not the same stuff.

Regards,
Neil