Stroppary

[bluesman 7]

Yeah, I find experimenting and assessing different stropping surfaces to be fun. I have got my new vintage shell performing very well and have been using it almost exclusively. I say almost because I strop my Monday razor on a split cowhide, just for a long term assessment of that surface.

 

[BDF]

Just wanted to re-visit this topic. After waxing and boning (Easy Boys! it ain't whatcha' think) a horsehide strop, I have the exact same situation; if nothing but stropping is done to the strop for a week or so, it starts to become pretty inert. A wipe with a wet towel and both the sound of stropping (the 'hiss') as well as the stropping effect return and is immediately evident in the razor.

I believe what is happening is that wetting the surface of the leather is causing strands of fiber to stand up as it dries and leaving a microscopically coarse surface. After a while, stropping forces those fibers down to a more even or flat level and the strop becomes less effective. But that is just my belief on what is happening and may well be entirely incorrect. ??

But there is no doubt that the wetting of the surface of the leather is necessary to maintain the strops' performance.

Brian

I have not noticed this with my split leather. I'm in the habit of rubbing it with the damp corner of a towel, followed by a vigorous rub with a dry towel after each use. Perhaps this keeps down the glaze.

 

[bluesman 7]

Just wanted to re-visit this topic. After waxing and boning (Easy Boys! it ain't whatcha' think) a horsehide strop, I have the exact same situation; if nothing but stropping is done to the strop for a week or so, it starts to become pretty inert. A wipe with a wet towel and both the sound of stropping (the 'hiss') as well as the stropping effect return and is immediately evident in the razor.

I believe what is happening is that wetting the surface of the leather is causing strands of fiber to stand up as it dries and leaving a microscopically coarse surface. After a while, stropping forces those fibers down to a more even or flat level and the strop becomes less effective. But that is just my belief on what is happening and may well be entirely incorrect. ??

But there is no doubt that the wetting of the surface of the leather is necessary to maintain the strops' performance.

Brian

Woodworkers wipe wood with a damp cloth to 'raise the grain' while sanding. I think the same thing is happening and I always wipe mine daily.

 

[LBussy]

Woodworkers wipe wood with a damp cloth to 'raise the grain' while sanding. I think the same thing is happening and I always wipe mine daily.

You wipe your wood daily?

 

[aephilli]

You wipe your wood daily?

EEEWWWWWWWW......

 

[bluesman 7]

In other news, I won a vintage shell strop at the Kansas City Meet. I stropped on it at the meet and was very underwhelmed. It felt like I was stropping on plastic. After returning home I started using it and the draw increased dramatically and a waxy surface developed.

Several applications shaving lather cleaned out some of the waxy oils which were a yellow brown color. I've been increasing the suppleness with hand rubbing several times per day as well as using it daily and it's getting much better, but it has a long way to go to equal my vintage horse hide. It is kind of fun getting it back in shape though.

The character of this strop has changed dramatically and It really brings up an edge now. It has moved into my favorite strop position. When I use it, it gets what looks like scuff marks on it. The marks disappear when I wipe it down with the damp towel, when I'm done using it for the day. My horse hide does this too since using the hard carnauba. I have been doing the palm rubbing treatment to both strops to increase suppleness. Anyone else experience this scuffing?

 

[LBussy]

I get the scuffing on my Tony Miller, this is after I lightly sanded some scratches out. Always preps the blade just fine.

 

[bluesman 7]

It seems to me that my strops are more effective when they are showing this scuffing. I think more clean leather fiber is contacting the edge when this is happening.

 

[MikekiM]

It may be Heresy, but I find that after a while the edge loses any character of the original honing method and just feels like a "stropped edge."

That's my thought as well...

 

[BDF]

I wanted to come back and bring up the topic of strop finishing (or re- finishing) again.

After using the 'wax, bone (glass) and wet daily' method of working with a horse hide strop for a bunch of weeks, I finally decided that I liked the other way better. Sanded the surface layer off the strop (again!) to yield a fresh face on the leather, using 80 grit and then 600 grit on a palm sander, and soaked and rubbed down the surface with Zymol again. I have to say, the strop is more effective on razors this way. It is quite a bit more aggressive, has a bit more draw (although still a fast strop) and does not degrade over the course of several days without wetting it. In fact, I have been using it like this for perhaps 3 weeks and have not treated it with anything but razors

Just thought I would pass along the info.- I know you are interested in mangling leather and coating it with all kinds of different things in the way of testing.

Brian

Yeah, I find experimenting and assessing different stropping surfaces to be fun. I have got my new vintage shell performing very well and have been using it almost exclusively. I say almost because I strop my Monday razor on a split cowhide, just for a long term assessment of that surface.

 

[bluesman 7]

I have recently prepared the flesh side of a horsehide strop with the hard carnauba to see how it compared to steer hide. I agree it is more dense than the steer hide.

On another note. I haven't been using my regular HH strop since I got the shell going. I was warned by a leather worker that my daily damp cloth routine would take the oils out of the leather and that if I stopped using it, it would start drying out. He was correct as the strop started loosing suppleness. I used to be anti-oil because of the way it effects the draw, but I could see that this strop needed oil. I lightly mink oiled the front side and sure enough the draw increased, but I let it migrate in and after a few days the light draw returned. The strop was still not as supple as I wanted so I gave the back side a few very light mink oil treatments and the suppleness returned while leaving the stropping surface mostly oil free. This was successful enough that I gave the shell a few back side treatments as well with resulting in an increase in suppleness. So now my routine is removing oil from the stropping surface with daily damp cloth wipes , and adding oil to the backside as needed for suppleness.

81 shaves on "The Winner"

 

[bluesman 7]

There is a bunch of talk about using solvents on another thread, and rather than de railing that thread more than we have, I am trying to move that discussion over here.

I should have mentioned that when I was preparing the flesh side of the HH strop I first had to clean it as it appeared to have been used with iron oxide. I used several applications of shaving soap lather and saddle soap until there was no more red coming out. The soap emulsifies excess oils while adding suppleness to the leather.

 

[BDF]

I have tried the shaving soap lather thing on strops and they leave enough of something (tallow?) behind that increases the draw and makes a strop feel sticky to me. Not really a fan. I have not tried saddle soap though. I have a bottle of some type of competitor to saddle soap and it works pretty well but Zymol cleaner is what I really like. It is certainly a soap but there is something else in there that stays behind in the leather.... the label mentions glycerin so perhaps that is what is causing the effect.

Brian

There is a bunch of talk about using solvents on another thread, and rather than de railing that thread more than we have, I am trying to move that discussion over here.

I should have mentioned that when I was preparing the flesh side of the HH strop I first had to clean it as it appeared to have been used with iron oxide. I used several applications of shaving soap lather and saddle soap until there was no more red coming out. The soap emulsifies excess oils while adding suppleness to the leather.

 

[bluesman 7]

So when you say Zymol you are talking about the cleaner and not the conditioner.

I found the Kiwi brand saddle soap did leave a lighter draw than the Tabac soap, but neither felt particularly bad to me, and of course the carnauba afterward slicked up the draw considerably.

 

[BDF]

Yep, this stuff: http://www.zymol.com/zymolsprayleathercleaner8oz.aspx I just soak a paper towel with the stuff and work it into the top of the strop, then let it dry. I leave whatever stays with the leather on (or in?) it, I do not bother to use a clean towel or cloth to wipe it off.

I have used Tabac also, both working it into the leather as well as just coating the strop face with wet lather and letting it dry overnight. It leaves the strops with a bit too much draw for me but hey, I find English Bridle to be a bit draggy too so my opinion is probably not the norm.. Veg. tanned horse hide is about the slickest strop I have ever used, including Cordovan Shell.

Brian

So when you say Zymol you are talking about the cleaner and not the conditioner.

I found the Kiwi brand saddle soap did leave a lighter draw than the Tabac soap, but neither felt particularly bad to me, and of course the carnauba afterward slicked up the draw considerably.

 

[bluesman 7]

Just had shave 100 on "The Winner". This razor still shaves right along side of freshly honed razors and delivers great shaves.

I was gifted a NOS Illinois 835 a few months ago. It is horse hide with vintage linen. I've enjoyed breaking it in and have done nothing to it other than a daily wipe with a damp towel.

 

[LBussy]

Just had shave 100 on "The Winner". This razor still shaves right along side of freshly honed razors and delivers great shaves.

I was gifted a NOS Illinois 835 a few months ago. It is horse hide with vintage linen. I've enjoyed breaking it in and have done nothing to it other than a daily wipe with a damp towel.

Congratulations! Took a little longer than some. You get lost somewhere?

 

[bluesman 7]

Congratulations! Took a little longer than some. You get lost somewhere?

No, the 100 shaves is on that one razor since honing. I'm around 600 shaves total.

 

[LBussy]

I was gonna say ... you started before me I thought.

Man that's a crapton on one hone. My whiskers laugh at such an effort.

 

[bluesman 7]

I was gonna say ... you started before me I thought.

Man that's a crapton on one hone. My whiskers laugh at such an effort.

That razor really responds well to the strops, plus I think there is some luck involved. I don't think any of my other razors have ever reached 50 shaves on a hone. That one is still going strong though.