"Dressing" for OLD leather razor strop

[Patriot49]

Hi
Two questions.
I just inherited a very old, and dry, leather razor strop. My Dad says it needs some dressing. I want to use a leather strop to add the final touches after sharpening my knives.

1] What kind of dressing should I put on this strop? Lexol? Something else?

2] Is Chromium Dioxide paste good to use on the knife blade when stropping it for an extra polished, super fine, sharp edge?

THanks everyone.

 

[WadeF]

Go to like www.classicshaving.com and order some strop conditioner. It's basically animal fat. You can rub that in to try and re-hydrate the leather and get it supple again. After that you can try adding a compound to add more grit to the leather so it will cut faster. For straight razors you don't use anything other than the conditioner, but for a knife you could use various compounds. I like the Veritas (SP?) Green compound from Leevalley.com which has a grit value of 0.5 micron.

 

[randydance062449]

To both clean and condition your old strop use GOOP, the hand cleaner.
Just apply, rub it in, let set awhile then wipe off. Repeat until the leather is clean. The GOOP has lanolin in it which conditions the leather.

The Veritas- Lee valley stuff is good but the 0.5 micron chrome oxide at
www.handamerican.com is better, easier to apply, premixed in a base of lanolin and glycerin.

Hope this helps,

Randy Tuttle
www.straightrazorplace.com