Thread: Old strop!!!!

Hi everyone I'm new to srp & sr in general I've been wanting to get a straight razor for a while and have been taking my time researching I found this old strop at my moms house it was my grandfathers she estimates he got it in the 50s so it's old my question is it wort reconditioning it not sure of the stiffness of it it's still at my moms or should I just buy a new one when I purchase a razor thanks for any info much appreciated

The silk looks good for what you show. Treat the leather with a light coat of neetsfoot oil and see if that softens it up.

IMHO, the answer is yes and yes. Yes, you should take care of that old strop as an heirloom and yes you should get a new strop if you take up SR shaving. If it were me, I wouldn't want to run the risk of damaging that fine old strop while learning how to strop.

That combo is probably from the 1950s- 1960s cause DD and Beau Brummel started working together around that time.

It's quality gear so see if you can fix er up. The linen plenty of soap and hot water and a scrub brush and the leather some leather cleaner and then see what she looks like. You may have to do a little sanding, maybe not. maybe just some conditioner. As long as there aren't any cuts.

Thanks for the info I'm definitely gonna do that I'll post a picture when I do

Yes, it appears to be in good condition except for the dryness of the leather and grit in the linen.

Both will clean up and the leather can be rehydrated. Just don’t bend them until you can rehydrate them. If careful you can save the gold stamping on the leather.

There are many good threads on cleaning linen and leather on the site and on rehydrating the leather. Just remember it took 50 plus years to dry out and will take some time to bring it back.

Here is a link to a great post by Kevin, Hides to Art, Leather 101 on Razor & Stone, make sure to go all the way to page 6.

Good info above. I'd like to emphasize that you should not learn with this strop. It looks like it should clean up and be serviceable for future use. However, it's very common for someone's first strop to get some nasty cuts. I'd say use something else for a year before trying Grandpas old strop.

Nice strop, I agree to resto it and use it. Please re-post pics after if you decide to clean it up, it should look pretty good!

That's a beautiful strop that would be a joy to have and use. I'd give anything to have my grandfather's strop or razor. Welcome to straight razor shaving. Enjoy.

Welcome to SRP. That is a nice old strop. I've got some real nice old vintage strops that I didn't really have to do anything to, and I've got a few that had linens that were 'lumpy' & dirty. Those I washed in a bucket with cold water and Woolite. Nylon bristle brush. Laid them flat with a phone book or two (remember those ?) on 'em. They dried fine. One I threw in the washer along with the laundry (warm water) and it came out fine too.

For the leather I'd do what guys said above, or just palm rub it if it feels pretty good as is. I would definitely get a new strop to use until you become proficient. Otherwise chances are you'll nick and scuff that one more than it is. I can't speak for anyone else, but my most used strops (that I used since the beginning) look like 40 miles of bad road. Work good though.

Here is a tutorial on honing & stropping that might be interesting and give you something to go with ;

http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwi...t_-_Honing.pdf