I recently acquired some strops out of an unfamiliar material to me from Ebay. They came NOS with paper wrapping and I took one out and examined it before testing. They are very old, the vendor said 40s/50s but the some research on the label indicated the Tripoli barber supply Co. was in business from about 1918 on so maybe older. It is stamped Genuine Boar Hide, I wasn't aware of this or even pig leather being used for razor strops.
What I can tell you is this is some of the stiffest, toughest leather I've had for a strop or anything else. And dry as a potato chip when it came out of the paper with some kind of powdery coating on it. First thing I did was clean it with saddle soap lather and it turned a very nice light brown. At this point it hadn't softened that much, plus it had a bumpy surface and I didn't think it would be any use for razors. A quick test confirmed.
Still wanting to see if it could be made serviceable I sanded it with 220 WD and then higher, stopping at 500. That left an almost glassy smooth feel so I stopped and put on a few very light coats of Neats foot oil. The shave afterwards was very good, and I'm thinking it will have a place in my shave den...
Some observations on it:
- the strop is particularly stiff at the bottom. May have been intentional since it hardly if at all deforms when you hold it. This should prevent cupping I guess - time will tell.
- it's now smoother than any strop I currently own. Not sure if this is a characteristic of the source or if there is a practical reason that other materials I've used (latigo, shell, horsehide) are less smooth. Interested to know if anyone here can shed some light.
Does anyone else use a pig strop regularly or ever? Would like to know if there are any advice on it's care and use if different from other leathers.
Picture of the strop as found
After cleaning - before sanding
Not your average pigskin
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