Pre-owned strop

Hello,

My dad is coming to Canada in May and may be bringing a straight razor and a leather strop from a baber who while still working as a barber has cut my dad's hair (when my dad was a child) and has also cut my hair when I was young. As far as I know, the straight razor is from England and is not being used anymore because people prefer disposable blades straight. I prefer to wait and see before getting too excited.

The purpose of my thread is to get people's opinions on whether it's okay to use a pre-owned (and heavily used) strop knowing that there is no way I will be able to sanitize it 100%.

Thank you for your input.

I'm not a pro with strops but a strop just gets better and better with more use. It takes years and years to put a strop out of commission. If it doesn't have any cuts or nicks in it, you could be in for a real treat!! Even if its dried out it could be brought back to life with some treatment. Just my opinion, hope it turns out good for ya!!

Welcome and if you get a chance let us see a pic of your strop and razor. AFAIK you will not be risking anything but your straight razors edge and perhaps your pride when you try out the strop unless you take the time to learn the basics for stropping.

You raise a good question. I am not sure how much risk there is with a pre-owned strop (I would speculate that there is not very much...but I'm no expert).

I have a half dozen used strops hanging from my dresser handle, I love them all. Use a little saddle soap and a damp rag(not soaking wet) to clean the leather, set it aside for a day or two to let it naturally air dry, you may or may not wish to give it a treatment of neats foot oil. This is all that is needed for the leather.

If you wish to clean the webbing/linen/canvas component, a little warm water, soft cloth or brush and some mild cleaner such as Woolite will do the trick. Once cleaned lay it aside as well for a day or two and let it naturally dry.

Use no direct heat on either item.

Unless it crawls across the floor on it's own I don't think I would be afraid to use it. How long do the organisms you are afraid of life outside the body ? Not long I suspect. Nun has good advice for cleaning and I would say go for it.

Thank you guys. Unfortunately, I will have to wait until May to get hold of the razor and the strop :(