A quality strop does not require any abrasive
for final honing the edge of a razor. There are naturally
occurring minerals in Russian calf's leather making it an ideal honing
surface for a razor's edge. Our strop is a fine quality, linen backed
Russian leather
strop. It can be conditioned with a good quality mineral oil.
We are told that old timers used lard or olive oil as a conditioner.
Lard might work, but we know from experience that olive oil
will, over time, clog leather pores and form a hard glaze.
We recommend staying with mineral oil or commercial conditioning paste.
A second strop may be coated with a thin layer of fine grinding paste (red
or green), but it then become a sharpening tool, not a final honing tool and
once so contaminated, the abrasive cannot be removed.
Many
abrasive pastes are actually coarser than the surface of your fine
sharpening stone. We have some very inexpensive small rigid strops you can
use for this purpose. In fact, you can use a strop so
treated, in lieu of a stone.
Please contact us with any questions.