Thread: Low Spots!?

Hello All. I'm new to the world of straight razor shaving and I've run across something I haven't seen addressed on any boards. I purchased a strop from a barber supply house. It's an Illinois Razor Strop Co, 361. I've treated it with Fromm strop dressing a few times now as it seemed quite stiff and had very little draw. I was thinking that as long as it was accepting the solution, and not leaving a residue, I wasn't over doing it. It is now coming into what I think is a good condition, but now it has developed a problem. Toward the top, about 1/3 down, it seems to have a couple low spots. The bigger of the two is about the size of a quarter, not a sharp dent, but more of a depression that didn't rise as much as the surrounding leather with the conditioning. It's noticeable when I begin my stroke coming down from the top, it loses it's draw as it loses a bit of contact when passing over that area. The remainder of the strop is flat, smooth and true. I didn't notice anything until the last application of strop dressing. Perhaps Bossie or Elsie the cow had a blemish during her life and it is now passed to me via the leather.
Being new, I have nothing to compare to. As far as I know, this is no biggie, a "don't worry about it" thing, or something that will self correct. I have seen reference to nicks and bowed edges and what not, but nothing about this. I guess my questions would be, has anyone else had this happen? Did I just get a hold of a lemon strop? Should I worry about it, or can I do anything about it?

I hope these are not stupid questions, any help would be greatly appreciated. Don V

~A man with one watch knows what time it is, a man with two is never quite sure.~

Sounds like you acidentally stamped these holes ins the leather, maybe something was laying on it after the conditioning?
In any case you don't need to soak the leather with this "dressing". Leather will take time to "break in", so use less as a starting point.

But to your proplem, I have fixed a similar defect on a replacement leather I cut from an piece of tooling leather (untreated leather for forming and yes tooling)
I got a couple of leftover from a stone/marble countertop. Went to a local stone: tiles, toombstones, interior firm and got the pieces for free. What you want is a close to perfectly flat surface that doesn't absorb liquids. I guess a solid wood surface wraped in plastic will do, just that any irregularities will be mirrored in the leather surface.

Now for my leather I used water, but I think you'll be better of with that dressing, or oil's like neatsfood.
Remember to start with a little liquid, just moistening the affected area, or all of it if you want a uniform effect. Press the leather for 2-3 days and check, repeat if neccesary.

I don't now if you can remove the leather from the rest of the strop, so you don't leave pressure marks on the ends.

Thanks, I'll give that a try. I have some glass outside I can put it between.

Yes glass should do nicely. Was my first idea, but I was lucky enough to get the marble pices for free.

Forgot to say that these spots shouldn't affect the stropping in any way, but It is irritating to feel it under the razor on every stroke.

If memory serves I had my piece under pressure (added around 10 pounds on top) for 3 days, checked, wasn't satisfied, put a little more water and left it for 4-5 days.
The end result affected the draw of my strob significantly, before the surface was "rough" and the draw on the razor was quite heavy. After pressing the surface became much smoother and the draw changed to an "easy glide"

I know there is a similar technique used in tanneries that involves pressing between two "hot" plates, that is ment to smooth the surface or press a specific grain pattern, like faux aligator on cow hide.