My preference is neatsfoot oil. When a pasted strop needs conditioning do you remove the paste first or can you rub in oil over the paste?
strop conditioning
- Thread starter Hunter Bock
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Curious on this question myself as I have not tried that. I recently bought a Worksharp brand knife sharpening set with diamond plates and a built in strop. They have you apply petroleum jelly to the leather (bonded leather) surface first, they rub the green chromium oxide block over that. I certainly makes the CrOx go on nicely, much better than on the bare leather surface
For pasted strops I use CrOx which has been mixed with a little mineral oil. It's pretty unlikely for the leather to dry to a point where it is effecting its use, but if it did I would probably just replace it.
My clean strop I wouldn't use any product, but I rub the palm of my hand on the surface for a couple of seconds prior to use. I've been using the same strop for several years now and the process seems to be working fine.
My clean strop I wouldn't use any product, but I rub the palm of my hand on the surface for a couple of seconds prior to use. I've been using the same strop for several years now and the process seems to be working fine.
All my hanging strops are paste free, I use cheap 5 to 10 dollar paddle strops for pastes when I decide to use them. If the opposite side of the stop is smooth and paste free why not just apply neatsfoot oil to that side....it will all soak in entirely and condition the stop which is the end result. I would believe that if you apply neatsfoot oil it would be messy and would never penetrate into the leather like it should if you did it on the paste side.
Larry
Larry
I use Tanner’s Preserve leather car seat cleaner and conditioner on bare leather.
The same on pasted or rouged leather sides, with:
Dry wall scraper - thin flexi
Hair blow dryer or heat gun
Micro fiber towels
Nick flaps get removed with cuticle trimmer
Chicago screws tightened if not thread-locked.
On rouged linen/canvas-alcohol, heat, scraper, microfiber towel.
kinks and creases in leather have been steam ironed out with strop between dampened toweling.
The same on pasted or rouged leather sides, with:
Dry wall scraper - thin flexi
Hair blow dryer or heat gun
Micro fiber towels
Nick flaps get removed with cuticle trimmer
Chicago screws tightened if not thread-locked.
On rouged linen/canvas-alcohol, heat, scraper, microfiber towel.
kinks and creases in leather have been steam ironed out with strop between dampened toweling.
I recently treated an Autostrop strop. It was ninety years old and never used. Still folded up in its original tissue. I rubbed it with mink oil and a hair dryer. It’s nice and supple now.
I also treated another that had been used a few times, but pretty new. I cleaned it a bit with saddle soap before applying the mink oil with a dryer. Perfect. They both feel like new.
I also treated another that had been used a few times, but pretty new. I cleaned it a bit with saddle soap before applying the mink oil with a dryer. Perfect. They both feel like new.
- Thread starter
- #8
I take it applying some oil on the rouged strop, then a bit more rouge would be effective.
I don’t treat or paste my hanging strops except to rub them by hand.
My paste is diamond on nano and balsa.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My paste is diamond on nano and balsa.
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For the Solingen strops that have become dry, leaving dandruff on the blade, I've used the Dovo leather conditioner. A very small amount in the palm, rub the palms together, then rub the strop with the palms starting at the top with one and at the bottom with the other. Works very well for these.
- Thread starter
- #11
Update: a variety of practices reported but no definitive procedure for conditioning a pasted strop. I concluded that, staying with the same paste (green here) that conditioning could be applied over the old paste, wait, then refresh the paste some. Was effective.
I made knife sheaths out of my worn strop after discovering that my pants and palm works just fine. I've got dry and rough hands but it doesn't pose as a problem. I use the same technik as someone mentioned before...a couple in a row on one side and then mirror the action for the other side. I kinda count bars (as in music) which makes counting more intuitive. Like verses. 1,2,3,4 turn, 1,2,3,4...grouping everything into 4x4 beats makes counting effortless and helps me focus on feeling instead of succeeding. I'll try cromeox in the palm some day.
