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My first quality strop came today!

I am proud to say that I invested in my first high quality strop. It is a Tony Miller "plain chocolate" 3" English Bridle. I am in awe of the craftsmanship and it is "beginner" strop!

Is there anything I need to do to it before I use it the first time? I have a poor man's strop from whipped dog and I had to treat it with neatsfoot oil before using it the first time.

I want to make sure I give it the care it deserves.

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Congrats! I just received his 2.5" Plain Chocolate 2.5" yesterday. He makes a fine product with excellent fit and finish. The only drawback to mine and Its really more to do with me, is having to learn X strokes. Well, I hope you get years of enjoyment and use out of yours...looks great too BTW.

As far breaking it in and care, per TM's web page; nope, ready to go on arrival and just rub it a bit with your hands for care. If you nick it, use some fine grit wet/dry say 1000, to sand out the mark till its smooth. Auto shops carry a nice selection of wet/dry get a few 1000, 1200, 1500 just in case.

 
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Exactly what everyone else has said, rub with the palm of your hand. If you do have to sand out nicks make sure all the grit os gone before using.

Bob
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Hand rub. The more you do that, the better. Should never need any other treatment, at least not for a few years.

I have in the past applied things like neats foot oil, beeswax, etc to my strops and I found that the less I use on a proper modern strop, the better, and none at all seemed to be the best. Setting up a raw piece of leather as a strop, or rejuvenating an old strop, are a different matter, and for that you would want to gradually introduce neats foot oil a few drops at a time over several days, and rub it in good. The best way to apply beeswax is to rub the wax with your hand and then rub the strop. A trace can be good. Too much is not. None of this is called for on any reasonable quality new strop. Trust the guy who made it to have set it up the way it should be.
 
I love my TM Fast Bridle and really prefer its feel to the basic veg tanned cowhide my other strops are made of. It's supple and has enough draw that you can tell you're making good contact while still using very light pressure. There is also a nice tactile difference in the feedback as the edge gets straightened out/smoothed/whatever that is especially apparent during post-shave stropping.

The only thing I would add to what others have said is to consider hand-rubbing by feel rather than lap count - that is, just go until the leather warms up a little, whether that's five laps with your palm or fifty.
 
I love my TM Fast Bridle and really prefer its feel to the basic veg tanned cowhide my other strops are made of. It's supple and has enough draw that you can tell you're making good contact while still using very light pressure. There is also a nice tactile difference in the feedback as the edge gets straightened out/smoothed/whatever that is especially apparent during post-shave stropping.

The only thing I would add to what others have said is to consider hand-rubbing by feel rather than lap count - that is, just go until the leather warms up a little, whether that's five laps with your palm or fifty.

Do you rub the strop with your palm each time?
 
Very nice strop, I currently have 2 TM strops both are 2 1/2" with linen seconds, one is a Fast Bridal and the other is a Notovan and you are correct Tony's Craftsmenship is top notch and he spends alot of time on the details.
 
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