Thread: Effect of too much neatsfoot oil on homemade strop?

Newbie lurker here, just made a homemade strop from a bovine shoulder. It's 3-4 oz hide and I think I put too much neatsfoot oil on. It takes about 100 strops to get it to pass the hht. For reference I have a full hollow ground dovo ebony-silver steel blade. It shaves alright but I feel it could be sharper to start. It came shave ready. Would over doing it with neatsfoot oil be the cause for either: so many strops needed; or just not getting sharp enough?

Open to any thoughts....
Thanks all

Welcome to SRP. Does the strop feel oily ? Neatsfoot , IME, gives the strop more draw ..... resistance ... and if you don't see it building up on your blade it is probably not too much on the oil. Doing 100 strokes is twice what I do but whether it is too much or not depends on the individual. IMO there is a point of diminishing returns. If you're not expert in stropping more stropping leaves more chance of rolling the edge. Skin stretching, blade angle, direction of attack ..... shave technique in general can make a big difference in how the shave feels even with the sharpest blade. HHT is alright but focus on shave technique more than that and see if your shaves don't improve. Just IMHO.

I wouldn't say it feels oily but it is definitely supple. I've been looking around and noticing all the new strops are unoiled. Is a harder strop (i.e. less/no oil) better for stropping and in general developing the edge? I would have figured a softer leather would develop the edge slower?

Shaving is getting a little easier. I'm sure that my oily, thin, high elasticity skin doesn't help anything. Do skinny faced people have a harder time shaving with straight razors? Maybe that's another topic?

I've got an assortment of strops and some are hard, some supple and some in between. I sort of like a moderately supple strop better than a hard and stiff leather. I think that has as much to do with the thickness of the leather as how it is treated but I guess it depends. I do think thin folks who have nooks and crannies in their cheeks and neck have to stretch and flatten the areas for best results. That is what I have to do. Not sure if a fuller face/neck individual has a easier time or as hard or harder. Ain't been there to see for myself.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Not sure if a fuller face/neck individual has a easier time or as hard or harder. Ain't been there to see for myself.

Well, as the possessor of a slightly "full figured" face, I'd say it's easier. Especially on the jaw line and being able to make an XGT pass which with the direction of growth of my beard is actually an AGT pass from below the ear to the Adams apple on the neck!

I kind of like a strop with less draw. I started with the buffalo strop from SRD and it has so much natural draw that it was difficult to keep the blade flat. Some of the time the spine would drag enough that the edge would lift a little and then when trying to compensate for that I would over do it and put too much pressure on the edge. Both were detrimental to getting a good stropped edge.

Good luck klingenmeister and welcome to SRP!!!

Howard

I made a strop out of a weightlifting belt from years ago; put a small amount of neats foot oil on it and like JimmyHad said, the resistance (draw) increased tremendously. I now use that strop for my large blade knifes only.

Thanks for all the input everyone! I'm going to start with an unoiled piece and work it a bit.
Kyle

Here's the update... cut off a new piece of cow, glass bottle flattened it and then sanded it at 400. Stropped 40 and it now shaves like it should. Thanks everyone for keeping me on the right track!

As long as the oil isnt oozing out of the leather with every pass of the blade, you should be alright. I would be more concerned with your stropping technique, shave prep or shave technique.

It could have been that the oiled strop didn't get sanded and was pretty shiny and smooth - my technique is the same just with vastly different results on the edge. I have plenty of leather so it wasn't too big of a deal to make another strop. I'm still taking it slow just like sharpening my knives.