Lately my strops just have not been maintaining my SRs the way they used to. I'd get a couple days good shaves and then they start falling off. Though the razors appear sharp, some could still tree top arm hair and pass HHT, the shaves were very uncomfortable. While other razors became noticeably dull after about a week...
At first I thought they were not honed properly, but when I noticed the same symptoms with several razors in a row ( that never happened before ) a pattern emerged. So I checked out the leathers, I use mainly vintage shell and boar. I tried conditioning some with saddle soap, which usually works, and neatsfoot but no luck, nothing would bring them back. Finally I took one of the strops to sand paper. Worked up from low to high grit and hoped not to cause any lasting damage. Used a little neatsfoot and to my suprise it brought the first two razors back to shave ready comfort without having to hone.
Lookin back, I think moisture was the culprit, even excess moisture. I hung them on the towel rack and that was not good. Having nowhere else to put the strops with tiled walls, I've moved them into the bedroom until I'm certain what caused it and can figure out a more convenient location.
At first I thought they were not honed properly, but when I noticed the same symptoms with several razors in a row ( that never happened before ) a pattern emerged. So I checked out the leathers, I use mainly vintage shell and boar. I tried conditioning some with saddle soap, which usually works, and neatsfoot but no luck, nothing would bring them back. Finally I took one of the strops to sand paper. Worked up from low to high grit and hoped not to cause any lasting damage. Used a little neatsfoot and to my suprise it brought the first two razors back to shave ready comfort without having to hone.
Lookin back, I think moisture was the culprit, even excess moisture. I hung them on the towel rack and that was not good. Having nowhere else to put the strops with tiled walls, I've moved them into the bedroom until I'm certain what caused it and can figure out a more convenient location.