Stiff strop, how to soften it up?

Okay guys, I've got a SRD black latigo 3" strop. And it's a very nice strop but it's extremely stiff. It feels like a piece of cardboard.

I was wondering what I can do to soften it up a bit, as when I strop with it, it feels as if the whole blade isn't sitting flat because the strop has next to no give in it, and doesn't conform to the flat edge of the blade. I've been palm rubbing it whenever I walk past it, until it feels warm and before I strop with it, but that doesn't seem to be helping the stiffness of the leather, just helping the draw a bit.

Is there anything I can do or is it just a matter of time and waiting for it to properly break in over the coming weeks?

many lifetimes of stropping should make it softer...:p
just keep stropping in a few months it should soften up

If you palm rub it a few times a day it should soften up a bit quite fast, but the drag will also increase.

Depends on the strop. Some are stiff by nature and though they work in over time they never become soft and supple. However being on the stiff side doesn't mean stiff like cardboard. That's another story. Just realize quality strops come in all varieties.

Okay thanks, well I'll keep rubbing it down and hopefully it improves a bit.

FWIW, Dr. Chris Moss, SRP member and owner of Shave My Face forum, posted about a vintage strop he has that is like a board IIRC. He uses it in his stropping rotation and it really works well. Just sayin' :gl:

I have the same strop, it's been about a year now. I do rub it before stropping ... It's way better than it was. I would say to keep rubbing!

I just recieved a new strop and its quite stiff too. Would leather treatment like neats foot oil help soften it?

I use a light coat of Neatsfoot Oil on my latigo strops. It soaks in and penetrates. Give it a few days between treatments so that it has time to soak into the fibers.

I don't have any neatsfoot oil, so I will just persist with the palm rubbing.

If one of you decides to use neats foot, remember, it's easy to get it on and in the leather. It's another story trying to get it out. Just touch the tip of your finger in the "cap" after shaking it up, don't swipe. Rub that small amount onto your palm and fingers of the same hand and work it into the leather and then let hang for 24 hours. Keep just doing palm rubbing for the remainder of the week and see if it's improved. If not, repeat the neats foot and another week of working it. It's better than getting an over oiled mess and trying to fix that. Good Luck!!

Regards,

Howard

Okay so here's what I did, I got some baby oil(mineral oil with fragrance) and put a couple of drops on my palm and then rubbed it into the leather really well, front and back and let it soak it up. The I took the leather strop and layed it flat on my table. Using a round glass jar with about three drops of the baby oil rubbed over it, I rolled it up and down the strop for about 10 mins or so until it was all soaked up. Then a hung it up, rubbed it down with a cloth to soak up any excess and palm rubbed it for about 5 mins until it was nice and warm on my hand. Let it sit overnight and gave it a go stripping before my shave today. Worked a treat, it's perfectly flat, and much more soft and pliable now, and it doesn't smell of baby oil at all, just smells of leather. Pretty glad with the results.

It did darken it a littl, but being a black strop as it is, that doesn't matter. Made the draw of the strop slightly heavier too, but quite nice.

Daniel, how about gently flexing the strop along it's latitudinal axis?

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Originally Posted by Ignatius

Daniel, how about gently flexing the strop along it's latitudinal axis?

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I have very gently, but not much as I'm afraid I'd crease the leather. When SRD posted it they had folded the strop and left a crease down the middle of it that was rough when stropping, so I lightly sanded the bumps back with a fine sand paper and rolled a glass jar over it so smooth it out. Dont want to do that again.

You definitely do not want to crease the leather. You may need to work it a bit more over time, though. Now if that crease down the middle is SRD's fault and not the delivery service's, I would say you should be talking to them about a replacement. A strop with a crease down the middle is not acceptable and you shouldn't have to work to fix it. That said, assuming that the crease can go away, why worry about the strop being a little stiff? Leather does vary in it's firmness but that does not necessarily mean it's a bad strop. If you can resolve the crease issue, I wouldn't worry about the stiffness as long as the strop is doing it's job.

All the best

I want to say, "that's what she said" to a ton of these replies

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Originally Posted by OpTiCz

I want to say, "that's what she said" to a ton of these replies

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Hahahhaha.


I'm happy with the strop now, pretty much how I wanted it. The crease was anoying, I don't know if it was done when it was packed or during transit but when I opened the package the strop was longer then the box and bent around tightly to make it fit, leaving a crease in the leather. I can't be bothered going to SRD for a replacement though.