Renaissance Waxing Your SR's

[rbscebu]

@rbscebu I have a similar wax that I use on my pipes called Halcyon, but I think it is much softer and has a bit more solvent in it so that you get a much thinner coating. Anyway, as far as build up on the strop, if it ever became and issue you can simply use some kind of light solvent, OMS, lighter fluid, etc. to wipe down the strop with a clean lint free cloth and that will take care of removing the wax. I do this a few times a year to remove excess paste from a little loom strop I own and there’s no harm at all. I even feel like I recall reading that the guy who made the Kanoyama strops advises cleaning the leather from time to time with diesel fuel. (Or maybe it was Iwasaki) but odorless spirits or something similar will be much better.

In over two years of daily stropping SR's with Renaissance waxed bevels, I have yet to notice any difference when honing on a new identical clean strop.

As for buildup of wax on a blade, Renaissance wax is so formulated that it does not build up. That was one of the requirements of the British Museum when specifying the requirements for the wax in its development.

 

[Steve56]

Iwasaki advised removing oil from a strop with gasoline (and then soap and water), lol. He also advised to never oil a shell strop, as it would cut the polishing power in half. But many people just can’t stand it, they have to put SOMETHING on their strops. That’s why I almost never buy a used strop (except for the hardware), you know it’s been mistreated with oil, wax, whatever the owner’s magic elixir was. My daily driver is a 10 year old Kanayama that’s never had anything put on it. If they’re un-oiled, they’ll become shiny as glass and mine is as limber as the day I got it.

 

[Steve56]