Quote Originally Posted by Lemur View Post
"T.C. Fawley estimated that he had lost 2000 skins, ‘salted grains’ , ‘Chamose leather’ , ‘Spetches’ , also stocks of dog manure, packing cases and salt."
I surely hope my old English strops have nothing to do with the "dog manure"!
Don't worry. If it wasn't the strops, it was the scales!

It could be worse. Beware vintage ales.

Also, I have an 1860's pocket scalpel that is still caked in blood. That's how I learned that yes, in fact, I can tell the difference between rust and blood just by looking.

Before hygiene theory came along, an implement that was gooey with stuff was one that had seen a lot of use and was therefore well suited to the task!