Thread: strop, "GOJO" and neatsfoot oil

I have been a leather craftsman for 30 years, so I am NO expert on leather. My horsehide strop from Tony Miller had turned grey from daily stropping. While mentioning this to John Crowley, he mentioned the handsoap "GOJO" helped clean his strop. I tried "GOJO" handsoap with a wet rag, rubbed it in the leather, let it dry and rubbed pure neatsfoot oil in the strop. Once the leather dried I used my hand to rub the leather smooth. Try it you'll like it. Saddlesoap also works, here in west Texas cowboys use saddlesoap to clean the saddles and leather accessories. Juan.

Great tip! GOJO. Who'd have thought? I've been making leather stuff for my own use (plus many presents) for the last 25 years or so and am also no expert on leather but I sure do love saddlesoap. I also use the creamy white milky liquid stuff in the brown plastic bottle from the tack shop to treat leather yearly. I made my wife a big handbag when we met in 1989 and it's been in daily use since then - the leather is sweet! I've been making strops for about a year and I use cowhide. I have some vintage ones that are horsehide and can't really tell the difference on the razor edge between the two. I also like Fromm's for strops.

Everyone has their own secret for cleaning leather products.

I've been told that gojo is great for cleaning pastes off strops or as much as you can possibly get off.

Over the years I've found for strops Bick is the best stuff for cleaning and conditioning smaller leather goods. I don't like saddle soap because the stuff was originally designed for cleaning saddles and tac and really tough and thick leather. For that its great. I don't like using anything requiring water on most leather goods because the water will dry leather out. Bick is great because it is a gel and uses no water and is ph adjusted to be the same as leather. Their conditioner is about as good as it gets.

Just my 2 cents.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Everyone has their own secret for cleaning leather products.

I've been told that gojo is great for cleaning pastes off strops or as much as you can possibly get off.

Over the years I've found for strops Bick is the best stuff for cleaning and conditioning smaller leather goods. I don't like saddle soap because the stuff was originally designed for cleaning saddles and tac and really tough and thick leather. For that its great. I don't like using anything requiring water on most leather goods because the water will dry leather out. Bick is great because it is a gel and uses no water and is ph adjusted to be the same as leather. Their conditioner is about as good as it gets.

Just my 2 cents.

They are still finding leather sandals and goods from roman times buried more than 2,000 years ago. They are still in good shape. What ever you use, is not going to hurt the leather. I have mistreated leather for the last 30 years and it looks and feels better than me. Don't worry about ruining a leather strop, it is very difficult. Water dries and the leather still there. Juan.