Thread: Should I treat a strop before use?

hi

I'm new to straight shaving (though I have used a shavette)

I just bought my first razor from the classifieds here, which will take a couple of weeks to arrive from the US, and the next thing is to get hold of a strop, while I'm waiting.

i've ordered a boker hanging strop, and it says it comes with strop paste, but I don't know if that's an abrasive paste, or a conditioner for the leather.

hopefully, the packaging will tell me when it arrives, but I wondered more generally, does the leather on a strop need to be conditioned or anything, or can it be used "straight out of the box?"

Any advice welcome

jimmy

I have many strops, and all I do is rub them with the palm of my hand. The natural oils in your hand are enough to condition it. Those are the strops that I use for everyday shaving. Some strops can be pasted, or sprayed with abrasives and used for honing. You don't want to do that. Get a seperate strop for that.

Some guys use leather conditioners, and some use soap. I could never bring myself to soaping up high quality leather, seems wrong to me, but to each his own. If you live in a very dry climate, like the desert, then every once in a while, you'd want to treat your strop with some form of conditioner, like Neetsfoot oil, or Fromm strop dressing.
If you use the oil, use it sparingly, a few drops goes a long way.

Oiling a strop will change the way it feels when you strop your blade. It will create more drag, or draw. So, my advice is to do nothing right now, just learn how to use it, and rub it down with your hand every once in a while.

Hi Jimmy,
I didn't know boker sold strops, Given they have a reputation to uphold, it should be a fairly high quality piece. While I'm not a strop expert, the useability of a new strop has varied - mostly along quality/cost lines. While its true a low cost strop can serve very well, it seems to arrive new feeling stiff, unwilling to conform to any irregularities of an edge. With a month or so of daily hand rubbing, it settles down and delivers the goods. The exception has been the more premium strops. My only experience w/ the nicer strops is the SRD Premium 1, which is ALOT of strop for the money. If I described the difference in break-in, it would be how much rubbing is required to make it supple & pliant. The SRD is just about ready as delivered. I only did normal daily hand-rub that would be part of the daily stropping for a shave. Illinois 127/827/36, I did about 1500 strokes to get a normal pliancy. Latigo (I would expect this w/ most bargain strops) I did 2,000 strokes by hand (not all at one time) before the leather felt supple enough for daily use. I tend to strop more than most. It may well be that others find this work unneccessary. The results have worked well for me so far.

Most of the boker strops I have seen are rebranded jemico strops. Dovo uses the same ones. They are good strops. As has already been pointed out tubing the strop down with you hand should be all you need to do to the strop.

The strop paste we can't really advise on till we know what you have. But as a simple rule of thumb never put strop paste on my ever day strop.

Hi all

Many thanks for the advice!

I've ordered the strop from Heinnie Haynes - Knives, Pocket Tools and Accessories, and I went back on their website for another look.

The paste they send with the strop is described as honing paste, so I think I'll put it away in a drawer, till I know what I'm doing.

Thanks for the tip on using the oils from my hand. Since I'm preparing for my first "proper" straight shave, I don't there will be any shortage of sweaty palms!

Many thanks again, and best wishes to all!

Jimmy

Hi Jimmy
The guys have given you really good advice. Just use the natural oils from your hand Put your strop on a flat surface and rub it It might take a week or so to get your new strop so way you like it. Use a butter knife to practice stropping. Go slow and easy and count in each stroke back and forth. The time you take here will serve you very well in the future. Good luck

Without actually feeling the surface of your strop, and examining the edge of a razor coming off of your strop, it's hard to tell whether your strop is good to go out of the box or if additional breaking-in would be helpful or necessary.

What the others advised regarding a hand finish with the palm may be all that you need. It's possible that additional treatment could make your strop just a bit better. It takes some experience to tell. After a while you'll learn a few tips and tricks and then you'll be better able to judge what's necessary and what's not. But that's part of the fun.

BTW, it's possible to get an excellent shave ready edge without any kind of additional strop paste. You'd do well to learn how before delving into pastes and abrasives.

I treat my strops with Fromm strop dressing, then only use the palm of my hand. It takes a few days for the strop to "settle down" after using the dressing.

Hi

Is the Fromm dressing non abrasive?

I got stuff free with mine, and it's in a white tube with a yellow band, Which I think means non abrasive, but it just says strop paste on the bag?