seasoning a strop

[Pistolpete]

My barber has a strop that he says is 40 years old. He says he spent a total of 8 hrs using a bar of soap and slowly working it into his strop using a hand rub method. He is an old timer that keeps his shaving razors scary sharp. Anybody else use this method and do you season your strops or not? I just got an old weightlifting belt that I am going to use and would appreciate any suggestions you might have in regard to this matter. Thanks in advance. Pistolpete

 

[rev_jch]

I use strop conditioner.

 

[draftaman]

When I bought My strop, My barber gave me a small jar of strop dressing which I still havnt used. It smells like turpintine and is probably an antique its so old.
I strop all my knives after sharpening to give them that final little 'something' I cant quite describe.
I've thought about it before and really cant figure out why you would use dressing other than to preserve the leather.
My barber didnt know either and he's been a barber for 30 plus years.
The only thing I do to my strop is rough it up from time to time with some sandpaper or an extra course bench stone because it tends to get a little slick after 50 stropings or so.
One thing he did tell me was that a free hanging strop it fine for a strait razor but for knives, its best to lay the strop down on a piece of 2x4 or other wood because more pressure is applied when stropping a knife. He's right I've tried it both ways and a hard backing works best.