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Just discovered one of my grandfather's buys in an old work shop ...... looks unused., The strop is stamped 'The Great Oak Tanned Russia' and was made by Columbia Strop & Belt......Port (somewhere)
Can anyone offer a resource or site that I could access for the history of this beautiful piece of art????
have a most splendid day!
Pictures! Both sides and close-ups of condition. It may need a good saddle soap cleaning and a treatment of neetsfoot oil. If it comes apart canvas can be carefully cleaned. Won't know any of this without pictures.
Welcome to SRP, The Columbia Strop & Belt Works, in Portland, Oregon shows up in a few Directories around the turn of the century.1900-1920.
Nice old strop!I would carefully clean that paint off after taking the strop apart. Be very careful of bending the leather strop to a sharp angle as it might crack. I would clean the leather strop with saddle soap & then treat it with Ballistol. You can get the Ballistol at many gun shops & Gander Mountain carries it. Treat both sides of the leather strop with the Ballistol let it sit for a couple of days then wipe it down & treat it again. A little of this product goes a long way. There are many Leather treatments you can buy & this has worked the best for me.
On the treated strop I would clean it up with a good soap& use a light Scotch Brite pad to scrub a little.
I would check the leather strop every week or so & see how supple it is. If it needs more Ballistol just add it to the back sine of the strop. I wouldn't use the strop till it has been cleaned & treated.
Dave"Slawman"Huffman
It's in pretty rough shape but might be salvageable. I'd get some Bick leather cleaner and use that and then see what it looks like afterwards. The cloth can be soaked in hot water with some detergent and scrubbed with a brush.
After cleaning then you can decide what conditioner to use depending on the condition of the leather.
From Bouschie', the welcome from Martin 103, Slausman and 'thebigspendur', I want to say to the Masterminds, Genius' and Caretakers of 'The Way It Used to Be' -
just to look at and behold the character that lives on in the old craftsman's work, is a gift and I want to simply thank you - i can hardly imagine the knowledge i now have access to............very cool. I am just learning to navigate your website., apologize for the delay in a proper 'grazie'!
