Thread: Vintage Illinois double strop

I bought a vintage Illinois double strop and it has some raised places on the smooth strop. What would those possibly be? Is is okay to use saddle soap and some ind of brush to try and smooth out those places? They are not cuts or gouges. Is there any recommended treatment for the strops in general?
Thanks,
Roger

Roger, Slightly off topic but is that a Series I Land Rover in your avatar? I owned a 1958 (transition year bewteen Ser. I and Ser. II designs) Series I 88" RHD for years...the first in my long progression of vintage Rovers.


For the strop issue a good cleaning with saddle soap seems to be the suggestion on vintage strops and if nicked or with bumps maybe a very light sanding to remove the flaws.

Tony

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Roger, Slightly off topic but is that a Series I Land Rover in your avatar? I owned a 1958 (transition year bewteen Ser. I and Ser. II designs) Series I 88" RHD for years...the first in my long progression of vintage Rovers.


For the strop issue a good cleaning with saddle soap seems to be the suggestion on vintage strops and if nicked or with bumps maybe a very light sanding to remove the flaws.

Tony

Tony,

I really don't know the series of the Land Rover. I found the pic somewhere on the Net and thought some fellow shaving like that made a neat avitar.

Thanks for the tips on the strop. A felow straight user on Shavemyface suggested a pumice stone and "Goop" to remove all of the detritus possible.

Regards,

Roger

Originally Posted by Shave4Fun

Tony,

I really don't know the series of the Land Rover. I found the pic somewhere on the Net and thought some fellow shaving like that made a neat avitar.

Thanks for the tips on the strop. A felow straight user on Shavemyface suggested a pumice stone and "Goop" to remove all of the detritus possible.

Regards,

Roger

Goop is pretty harsh stuff and will remove enough oil from the strop it will dry it out...which is no big deal if you're planning on reconditioning it as part of the cleaning.

Personally I have always used Lexol products on my strops as they are PH balanced for leather and won't dry the leather out, darken the leather, or change the draw like other products are prone to do. You can get the Lexol cleaner and conditioner from any decent auto parts store.

Originally Posted by AusTexShaver

Goop is pretty harsh stuff and will remove enough oil from the strop it will dry it out...which is no big deal if you're planning on reconditioning it as part of the cleaning.

Personally I have always used Lexol products on my strops as they are PH balanced for leather and won't dry the leather out, darken the leather, or change the draw like other products are prone to do. You can get the Lexol cleaner and conditioner from any decent auto parts store.

Here's what I did.

Applied Leather New liquid glycerin saddle soap and rubbed with a mildly abrasive felt hat cleaning sponge. Sprayed the saddle soap liberally and rubbed briskly - dark brown goopy liquid came off. Rubbed with a dish towel to clean off. Repeated. Took the edge of a knife to gently scrape off the build up of detritus.
Will let it stand over night and repeat the above process and work until leather is perfectly smooth. After the saddle soap completely dries will treat with neatsfoot oil and leather balm. Looks 100% better already!