Strop care/maintenance

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I have a Cyril R Salter linen and leather strop. According to the instruction leaflet , I can increase the strops effectiveness and prolong its life by using dry soap on the linen bit. Just rub the bar against it, then work in with the side of a glass bottle. The soap I used was Wrights Coal Tar, I'm saving the Erasmic for shaving now that it is no more.

This seems to be working (to my inexperienced and highly unknowledgeable eye).

Does it mean I don't need to bother with any of the pastes and other preparations I see on the market? Because basically I am a lazy sod and can never be arsed getting stuff unless I really, really need it or it will make a massive difference to whatever activity I am persuing.

Thanking you all in advance for any response/opinions.

Cheers

Phil
 
As a straight newbie myself I'm really interested in this.I have one of Neil Millers' latigo leather/cotton hanging strops. As I understand things, it's the condition of the razor that may require the application of something to the strop to improve its effectiveness in dealing with the dulled edge. He recommends applying some chromium oxide (in a bar) to the linen side after a few months if I feel the razor losing some of its sharpness during shaving. I have some Dovo yellow paste to apply to the leather after a year or more as it starts to offer less resistance to the blade.

Perhaps your strop linen requires soap to perform the same function as the chromium oxide bar. But I haven't a clue on that!

Hope someone else can help.
 
Found this opinion:

"It's applicable to linen strops that aren't pasted."

So soap away! Until you decide you need to get to grips with a dulled razor edge. Then you can consider what else to apply. In my case it will be the chromium oxide bar.
 
I think the purpose of applying soap to the fabric side of a strop is just to fill in the weave, and give asmooth surface.

I have a cotton strop with Dovo white paste (slightly abrasive) but I don't use it much, I prefer plain linen.

On the leather side all you need is something lke Dovo yellow, which is just wax, to keep the leather soft.

Eventually, when the blade starts to lose it's edge you can decide wether to restore sharpness by honing, by using abrasive paste on a dedicated leather strop, or send it away for someone else to fix.
 
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