Fromm Strop Dressing, Does it Work?

Hey there,

I got a Illinois Razor Strop Co. 827 Imperial Russia Leather Strop and it is loosing it draw. I wanted to know if any one has any experience with the Fromm dressing and if it works well.

If there are any other suggestions to get the draw back please let me know. Like home remedies.

Neatsfoot oil will added some draw back, as will any natural oil.

I don't have Fromm down under but some kind of cream (Generic Leather conditioner), works well!

FWIW I bought a strop from Illonois Strop company some months back...IIRC the model # is 127 (out of sight out of mind= After conferring with Larry @ whipped dog I decided to take his advice and pour neatsfoot oil onto the surface and use a coffee mug pressing the oil into the strop, holding onto the handle of the mug and using the side of the mug to press the oil into the leather, with all of the strength I could muster. Lo and behold it worked, and worked well. Okay, I found a pic of it and it is a #127=

I first used a pumice stone as seen in this pic to try and rough up the surface for more draw...that didn't do much but as mentioned, forcing the neatsfoot oil into the surface of the leather using the coffee mug did create draw

And having said all of that, if you have a linen component on the backside of your strop, remove the leather and keep it seperate when adding an oil to the leather, so the linen wont pick up any of the oil

I have another strop, built by a vendor who peruses these pages, I wont mention his name...I bought one of his strops not long ago and I found it a tad too fast for me. When I inquired with him, how to slow it down, his recommendation (since he built it), he didn't want to say, claiming he didn't want to divulge any trade secrets. Whatever, and hence me not naming said individual, but I wanted to mention what I ended up doing to it to slow it down...it worked for me and perhaps others reading this may want to try what I found to work. I applied Brooks Proofide leather dressing to the surface.

Brooks Proofide will be familiar to any of the bicyclists that frequent this list as Brooks is a leather saddle maker in England manufacturing leather bicycle saddles and their saddles will dry out over time, just as our leather strops do. The ingredients of this formula is tallow, cod oil, vegetable oil, parafin wax, beeswax, and citronella oil. The base is greaselike. I aplied with my finger tip rubbing it in over the entire strop, not over applying, just enough to form a layer. 20 minutes later it was totally absorbed into the leather and it was apparent the leather was thirsty sucking it up as there was little if any evidence I ever used anything on the leather (no tell tale signs). I used a paper towel to buff nonetheless, then applied another application-same amount but let it dry overnight (it was bedtime=

Next day I used paper towel again to buff, reassembled the strop and promptly stropped a razor of mine. Viola!, more draw yet more importantly, this piece of leather was now (IMO) properly conditioned. This time of year we use air conditioning 24/7 which tends to pull out the moisture in just about anything inside the house, leather strops included. In my experience, rubbing my palm agaisnt the leather strop daily to condition this strop is not enough to keep it supple

Not mentioned but another leather treatment I've done to my Illonois Strop, I've used Lexol leather conditioner pretty much applying to the surface, watching it soak in, applying more til it wont absorb anymore (have repeated this 5X's in a row)...I'll soak a piece of paper towel to apply the Lexol. FWIW, I've yet to create too much draw using any of these techniques

Another leather conditioning product I've yet to use on any of my strops (I have 3), and I want to try using is Sno Seal. I mention this product as I used some this evening a little while ago to reinvigorate two pairs of leather boots (made by Vasque) I have. Both pairs of boots sorely needed cleaning, polishing (w/shoe polish) and leather conditioning. I used saddle soap to clean yesterday applying with a damp sponge, let it dry overnight then buffed it off with a shoe brush. Then it was time for some colouring shoe polish and I used Qiwi Brown rubbed in w/paper toweling, then buffed with the brush then applied the Sno Seal. Anyone that is familiar with Sno Seal, their instructions for applying is to heat the leather first before applying their product so the leather will suck up (or absorb) the Sno Seal. You can do this by leaving whatever you are treating, leaving the leather in the sun, or heat with a hair dryer or place in an oven (low temp, turn the oven off first before palcing the leather inside)...but these boots I just conditioned with Sno Seal, I did not heat up first. Anyways, one of these days I'm going to sparingly apply Sno Seal to one of my strops, heating the leather first

Looking back through the years, I've treated leather auto upholstery with leather conditioner (Lexol), leather riding chaps, at one time I had a one piece leather suit (for motorcycle roadracing) I treated a few times (with Lexol), boots, gloves, you name it, if it was made from leather, I treated it w/a leather conditioner, so I view treating a leather strop for straight razor shaving no different than any leather item...but I typically defer to the manufacturer before doing any conditioning, figuring they *should* be able to supply how to best condition their product. Others may have better and different ideas


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

i have used it with good success, and i have used neatsfoot oil also, but it can be overdone in my opinion. used it sparingly, alittle at a time until the desired results is reached. rub in fromm and do not oversoak the neatsfoot. tom

tomjr said:

i have used it with good success, and i have used neatsfoot oil also, but it can be overdone in my opinion. used it sparingly, alittle at a time until the desired results is reached. rub in fromm and do not oversoak the neatsfoot. tom

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When you us the Fromm how did you go about it. Just put a drop or two on your palm and then rub it in. Also did it make a difference when you stropped your razor? Did the razor become sharper?

i covered the surface like a thin coat of paint, and let it soak in. when it dries well, about an hour it is ready. it will increase the draw somewhat, at least it did mine.

I just bought the Fromm strop dressing yesterday and put some on right away. I did it again this morning (my strop was quite dry). I will see how well it works tomorrow morning. Hope all goes well.

Stropped my Torrey this morning and well it had a bit more draw. The strop looks a lot better, the dark colour is back and it feel to the hand less dry. I wish it had more draw though. Maybe it just need a bit more dressing to get the desire draw. Or maybe I need to work the dressing more into the strop. Any ideas anyone???

bad-bryce said:

Stropped my Torrey this morning and well it had a bit more draw. The strop looks a lot better, the dark colour is back and it feel to the hand less dry. I wish it had more draw though. Maybe it just need a bit more dressing to get the desire draw. Or maybe I need to work the dressing more into the strop. Any ideas anyone???

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You might need more than 1 treatment. I work the product in the strop using my fingers when I have to do that. Also, I warm up the leather before usage by rubbing the palm of my hand for 10-15 seconds. It creates more draw.

Luc said:

You might need more than 1 treatment. I work the product in the strop using my fingers when I have to do that. Also, I warm up the leather before usage by rubbing the palm of my hand for 10-15 seconds. It creates more draw.

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After i shaved today, I put dressing on it after, so this would be the third treatment. I usually rub my strop in the morning with my palm but i think it is so dry that might need more treatments. Today I spread the dressing with my finger and used a Mug to rub it in the leather. I basically went up and down with the mug. Maybe it needs more treatments but i will take one day at time to see how better it gets.

What I do is I put enough dressing so that the strop is shinny with out too many white spots (if that makes sense). I make sure i put less than more. Then I rub it in with my palm (the first and second treatment) and used the mug on the third treatment.

I will let you know the progress.

Today i got more draw out of the strop. So slowly but surly i am getting the to the draw I am looking for. I applied more dressing this morning and rubbed it in with my palm first then a mug to really work it in. I shall see tomorrow how well it turn out.

Good work!