I won't claim it's the best method but this worked for me.
I have this vintage Russian strop, it's a nice strop, a few nicks but nothing dramatic. Everything is sanded out. The leather feels like Horsehide but it's a bit stiff. Lucky me, it's not cupping and the leather is not cracked. I tried it for a while but it's too stiff to my liking and compared to my Kanayama strop, it's very stiff!
What can I do? Well, from a country to another, we don't all use the same products but I decided that I was going to wash the leather and then condition it with what I can find locally. I was advised to use saddle soap to clean and neatsfoot oil is best to condition leather. I did not find any neatsfoot oil, unfortunately, but I know there's some in Australia. My leather man shop around the corner has some leather conditioner to restore and protect the leather. I used it on shoes before and the leather was softer, easier to bend and looked nicer.
So I have my clean cloth that I bought at the supermarket, it was around $1.50 for 4 huge squares. I had to cut them smaller as they were too big. I bought a saddle soap off eBay, the seller guarantee it also contain neatsfoot oil.
I will follow the instructions on the back of the box
The Leather conditioner is by an Australian company named Minit.
So, the strop is pretty nice but here it is before the clean-up. I don't have any cracks or anything like that.
Step 1, I wet the piece of cloth and get rid of any excess water. I rubbed the saddle soap on it to create some lather. It doesn't smell that good but I think it would work well if I need it for a shave
I apply the lather and spread it all over the strop making sure I am not scrubbing but lightly rubbing it.
I let it rest for 20 minutes and then rinse my cloth, get rid of any excess water again and wipe off the lather.
I let the strop dry again (another 20 minutes).
Hanging the strop is best I think to let it dry.
I repeated the cleaning with the saddle soap 3 times to be sure I got rid of all the nasty bits stucked on the strop. I cleaned both sides.
I then applied some leather condition on a dry piece of cloth. An almond's worth, maybe a bit more.
I start applying roughly the conditioner, I see that I will have enough
I spread a thin layer of the conditioner evenly on the strop and let it absorb for 20 minutes (that's my magic number).
Again, I repeated the conditioner procedure 3 times on both sides and after the last one, I wiped any excessive conditioner with a piece of dry cloth.
The Leather looks a bit wet still but better
The soap was a bit rougher than I though on the logo, beware of that
Finally, this is how stiff the leather was before I cleaned it and applied the conditioner
and after
It's not as malleable as the Japanese strop but it's much better!
I have this vintage Russian strop, it's a nice strop, a few nicks but nothing dramatic. Everything is sanded out. The leather feels like Horsehide but it's a bit stiff. Lucky me, it's not cupping and the leather is not cracked. I tried it for a while but it's too stiff to my liking and compared to my Kanayama strop, it's very stiff!
What can I do? Well, from a country to another, we don't all use the same products but I decided that I was going to wash the leather and then condition it with what I can find locally. I was advised to use saddle soap to clean and neatsfoot oil is best to condition leather. I did not find any neatsfoot oil, unfortunately, but I know there's some in Australia. My leather man shop around the corner has some leather conditioner to restore and protect the leather. I used it on shoes before and the leather was softer, easier to bend and looked nicer.
So I have my clean cloth that I bought at the supermarket, it was around $1.50 for 4 huge squares. I had to cut them smaller as they were too big. I bought a saddle soap off eBay, the seller guarantee it also contain neatsfoot oil.
I will follow the instructions on the back of the box
The Leather conditioner is by an Australian company named Minit.
So, the strop is pretty nice but here it is before the clean-up. I don't have any cracks or anything like that.
Step 1, I wet the piece of cloth and get rid of any excess water. I rubbed the saddle soap on it to create some lather. It doesn't smell that good but I think it would work well if I need it for a shave
I apply the lather and spread it all over the strop making sure I am not scrubbing but lightly rubbing it.
I let it rest for 20 minutes and then rinse my cloth, get rid of any excess water again and wipe off the lather.
I let the strop dry again (another 20 minutes).
Hanging the strop is best I think to let it dry.
I repeated the cleaning with the saddle soap 3 times to be sure I got rid of all the nasty bits stucked on the strop. I cleaned both sides.
I then applied some leather condition on a dry piece of cloth. An almond's worth, maybe a bit more.
I start applying roughly the conditioner, I see that I will have enough
I spread a thin layer of the conditioner evenly on the strop and let it absorb for 20 minutes (that's my magic number).
Again, I repeated the conditioner procedure 3 times on both sides and after the last one, I wiped any excessive conditioner with a piece of dry cloth.
The Leather looks a bit wet still but better
The soap was a bit rougher than I though on the logo, beware of that
Finally, this is how stiff the leather was before I cleaned it and applied the conditioner
and after
It's not as malleable as the Japanese strop but it's much better!
