Trying a boar strop out.
- Thread starter SliceOfLife
- Start date
Hope you're gonna use it with a boar brush, and boar tallow. ;-)
It's in nice condition! Good eye! Looks like a older one.
I have a vintage Tripoli Boar that has been my favorite strop for several years. It took a while to break in, but just gets better and better as time goes on.
Boar leather is very effective.
Let us know how well it works.
Let us know how well it works.
- Thread starter
- #6
Linen needs a wash and I’m gonna rub the leather a few times and give it a shot.
Boar “tallow” is lard btw.
Very nice! There is an old strop hanging on a coat hook in the local barbershop. I’m going to see if the barber will sell it cheap if I ever get to get another haircut.
- Thread starter
- #9
Used it since I made this thread and while not my favorite strop, worked fine.
Unfortunately, I was working it to try and soften it up a touch today and a tiny little nick that I hadn't even noticed before about 7.5" from the bottom snagged and a small chunk came out. So the strop got shortened to 15" and will probably get sold or piffed as a training strop.
Good news is I stole the vintage Linen from it and did a swap to upgrade my Ambrose Spanish HH (which still had his 1.5" wide secondary), which should solve the only complaint I had about that strop (too narrow secondary).
What remains is an ~15" Boar hide, plus a 7x2" boar hide patch (for a paddle strop maybe?)
Oh well. Gives me an excuse to rotate a different strop into use.
Unfortunately, I was working it to try and soften it up a touch today and a tiny little nick that I hadn't even noticed before about 7.5" from the bottom snagged and a small chunk came out. So the strop got shortened to 15" and will probably get sold or piffed as a training strop.
Good news is I stole the vintage Linen from it and did a swap to upgrade my Ambrose Spanish HH (which still had his 1.5" wide secondary), which should solve the only complaint I had about that strop (too narrow secondary).
What remains is an ~15" Boar hide, plus a 7x2" boar hide patch (for a paddle strop maybe?)
Oh well. Gives me an excuse to rotate a different strop into use.
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Boar “tallow” is lard btw.
There are a couple of artisans who use Manteca (Spanish for lard or pig fat) in their formulations, but not as the primary fat.
I’ve never had it in a shave soap but my bath soap is three ingredients - lard, lye and water. Wonderful stuff. I tried a shave soap from Stirling that was suet based and while the performance was great, the scent wasn’t. I buy “Manteca” by the 4lb. buckets I love lard! I Never ever consume vegetable oil or anything cooked in it
- Thread starter
- #12
Manteca is butter or grease. Manteca de Cerdo is Lard. It looks like a lot of marketing labels drop the "de Cerdo" though and instead refer to everything but lard specifically.
From usage I would assume it most literally translates to "Fat/Grease"
So Manteca de Cerdo is "Fat of a pig" I'm sure if the only animal fat you use regularly is lard, just Manteca works for it, just how in situations where it's obviously butter, you can just refer to butter as Manteca. One dictionary actually says butter is Manteca De Vaca... which I would assume would be used for beef fat. I'm more familiar with hearing Manteca or Mantequilla. Now say you're cooking a recipe where you fry a dough made with butter in rendered beef fat... what do you do now?
From usage I would assume it most literally translates to "Fat/Grease"
So Manteca de Cerdo is "Fat of a pig" I'm sure if the only animal fat you use regularly is lard, just Manteca works for it, just how in situations where it's obviously butter, you can just refer to butter as Manteca. One dictionary actually says butter is Manteca De Vaca... which I would assume would be used for beef fat. I'm more familiar with hearing Manteca or Mantequilla. Now say you're cooking a recipe where you fry a dough made with butter in rendered beef fat... what do you do now?
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I want a boar brush.
When I first bought my stop I asked the barber supplier what I should dress the strop with to keep it supple. He said use lamb fat between the belts. I thought that would just go rancid and stink so I did nothing.
A number of years back Boar fell out of favor as a strop material. I have no idea as to the why of it. There were no shortage of hides that I can recall. It wasn't something that was considered to be novel, as it had been around for years. At any rate if you run across one that is in halfway decent shape, meaning if not cracked or have cuts in it if only perhaps dried out I would purchase it by all means. If you are willing to take the time needed to rehydrate it properly you will be rewarded. This strop is over 50 years old and performs ideally. If it doesn't have a secondary surface, I wouldn't be concerned about it, as there are enough sellers out there that you can pretty much pick one of your choice and even fit it if necessary.
AFAIK, in Spanish "manteca" is Lard, no need to add "De Cerdo", as it only applies to pig's fat (aka lard). OTOH, butter is mantequilla. So, mantequa is never referenced to mean butter. Mantequilla and manteca are not the same thing, although they might sound very similar.
Manteca = lard
Mantequilla = butter
WFIF, I only cook/fry using virgin olive oil (and sometimes butter). Each to his own
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