Re: Leather strop maintenance
Will, Shaving razor right?
You, like myself may not be able to let anything that is old go without a good attempt at bringing it back. An old leather strop may be just the place to learn to start..well, stopping. Strops by nature only work perfectly when they are uniform and surface perfect. You can spend way too much time dicking around with an old abused strop and never get where you want to go. Once the leather "goes" barbershops chucked them out. Hard leather? Out it goes! Oiled? Hell no!
We would need to know alot more about what you found.
Single Side or Double?
Blackened on either side? Both? THis can tell us allot!
Ring ended, hook ended, finger hole?
Belly swayed (center channel worn thin), edge waved (sweep edge worn)?
Crown, if 5 pointed with the center higher, it was made by ESPE (German).
A strop is for the finest finishing, a good Russian leather strop requires nothing more than a fine linen finish and your done. Wire edge is dealt with the linen finish on a fine razor. The linen is the hone and if you get one, well we can talk about soap and bottle prepping that...the leather is the polish. IF your strop is new Russian Tanning one would rub dry pumice stone over the strop in order to remove the outer nap and develop a smooth surface. Clean it off and then rub a smooth glass bottle over the strop several times until a surface is so smooth that quick base of palm passes feel like a glide with no heat and no tack.
We do not mount strops, they should always remain flexible as that is what makes up for the slight variation in sweeps and allows the edge to uniformly polish out. Trust me when I tell you that close to 300 years of shaving razor strop would have evolved to hard boards if it was right for a shaving razor, it didn't and it isn't. Finishing off a carving/paring knife?....hard board. Need to finish a properly honed chisel?....hard board. Got a folder, Bowie, etc?...Paddle, then hard board. Shaving razor? strap.
Keep all your "diamond hones," rouges, polishing powders and the like for a honing paddle, or hard board, nothing touches your leather strop except for perhaps the initial pore filling application of "white". Chromium Oxides were primarily used to "tame" a poorly finished edge, what was called "getting the bite out". Your best strop is ONLY for the the finishing phase.
The sweeps are always light and uniform and the passes should generate that wonderful swish that means it is all coming together.
Sharp is something few folks have a clue about. I am constantly shown prideful sharpening jobs whith the remarks "this is razor sharp" only to reply "that is very sharp" knowing damn well that telling somebody that "razor sharp" is altogether different would disappoint. Spooky sharp will never fail to surprise, my hands are a living testament to razor sharp. You can get there, but I'm going to say that the $50 you might spend for a great NEW strop is worth getting there sooner. Remember stropping is the very final end operation, there is a whole lot more to start it all off in the right direction. It all starts with the blade grind.
Lastly, a properly profiled and ground hand knife can be as sharp as a shaving razor. Here is a fly fishing "quad" I designed back when, only these two were ever ground as it was a perfect pain in the ass to make. But that grind allows for stropping on #1 and #2 blades. #1 on a flex and #2 only on a paddle/flat board. Whereas the blades were great, the church key back end was pure brilliance as when used all thoughts for stropping would be over!
Good luck.
