Thread: Too much Goose Grease

I couldn't find any Neat'sfoot with ease and there was a pot of it in the fridge and I figured 'hell, it's just animal fat, what's the difference?'

It soaked in very well an disappeared into the leather, so I added a bit more, and a bit more.

Now my strop has more than just a draw, more of a grip, it makes smooth and gente stropping very hard indeed.

Any ideas of how to sort it out?

I reckon the goose grease would have been great if I'd kept it light.

Well, I can't tell you how to sort it out -- but I can tell you why animal fat isn't ideal for use on leather (or on the variety of things, like cutting boards, where folks recommend mineral oil or the like).

It goes rancid.

You'll smell it when the weather warms up, if not sooner. I would imagine a bigger issue would be microbial, given the likelihood of cutting yourself (and thus carrying some nasty critters from strop to cut via the stropped razor edge).

Sorry for the bad news. Maybe some folks will have differing opinions that offer more hope.

cass

i would imagine one of our fine strop masters will read this sometime today and have a couple of suggestions for you, yuk animal fat, i have overdosed a strop with mineral oil and used sea breeze on a terry cloth towel to get the excess out but i would wait for professional help with this if i were you. i dont think saddle soap would work on fat but it might,

Originally Posted by gingahippy

I couldn't find any Neat'sfoot with ease and there was a pot of it in the fridge and I figured 'hell, it's just animal fat, what's the difference?'

It soaked in very well an disappeared into the leather, so I added a bit more, and a bit more.

Now my strop has more than just a draw, more of a grip, it makes smooth and gente stropping very hard indeed.

Any ideas of how to sort it out?

I reckon the goose grease would have been great if I'd kept it light.

I'd recommend getting as much as possible of the goose grease out of your strop as it will eventually go bad.

Get some cleaner that's specifically made for leather (I'm partial to Lexol products) and clean it several times. You might also try to use a microfiber cloth to "wick" the oil out while the leather is moist from the cleaner...just put the cloth on and press with something flat.

You will probably never get all the grease out but you can minimize the damage by trying to replace as much of it as possible with a more suitable dressing. It will probably take several applications and days of waiting for the strop to dry before the draw is back to normal.

Thanks fellas,

scraping it hard with teh sharp scissor blade whilst warm took out some excess, I think I'll try some dishwashing liquid to wash of what I can (gently) then apply teh real stuff in a hope to dilute it.

It doesn't pay to rush these things does it???

Originally Posted by gingahippy

Thanks fellas,

scraping it hard with teh sharp scissor blade whilst warm took out some excess, I think I'll try some dishwashing liquid to wash of what I can (gently) then apply teh real stuff in a hope to dilute it.

It doesn't pay to rush these things does it???

No offense but it sounds like you are rushing the "cleanup" of your original mistake.

At the risk of beating a dead horse...any product you use on leather that's not specifically designed for leather may have some unwanted results.

You should be able to find a product designed for leather (again I recommend Lexol) at an auto parts store, tack and saddle shop, tractor supply, or farm and ranch supply type store.

We used to draw resist designs with wax on cloth at college, then afterwards the wax was removed by laying several thicknesses of absorbent paper (we used unprinted news-sheet) over the cloth and ironing with a warm iron - the heat of the iron wicked the wax out of the material into the paper. If you try this, don't get the iron too hot!

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by cassady

Well, I can't tell you how to sort it out -- but I can tell you why animal fat isn't ideal for use on leather (or on the variety of things, like cutting boards, where folks recommend mineral oil or the like).

It goes rancid.

You'll smell it when the weather warms up, if not sooner. I would imagine a bigger issue would be microbial, given the likelihood of cutting yourself (and thus carrying some nasty critters from strop to cut via the stropped razor edge).

Sorry for the bad news. Maybe some folks will have differing opinions that offer more hope.

cass

What he is saying here is that your strop's goose is cooked!

Good excuse to go out and see what Mr. Miller has available in his shop.....

Well hell Tex, I reckon you might be right!

I will use some self control and wait until get to Somerset, they have plenty of farm shops around there.

Lexol it is, and neat'sfoot.

Good job I just won another strop on flea bay,

and another razor,

and two hones,

and . . . .

My crazy old great uncle, who lived without electricity or running water until he died in 1980's...and stopped paying taxes in the 50's or so using the "shotgun and screaming at the tax collector" method used to eat goose grease on toast.

I distinctly remember seeing jars of it sitting on his windowsill.

Crazy old bastard, I wish I could go back and talk to him now.