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I pretty often get, for lack of a better word, sticky grime or goop on the strop after using it. I've been honing a few ebay buys so I imagine there is more dirt and maybe metal detritus than usual being stropped off, but what's the best way to clean the strop (it's a tony miller latigo).
just rubbing my palm on it sometimes gets it to come up. other times I've put a little water on and palmed it, and that got it to come right up, but I don't like putting water on leather for obvious reasons.
It would help to thoroughly wipe down the blades before stropping. You could use a little rubbing alcohol to cut any grease and just try and prevent the stuff from building up. :hmmm:
Just a thought. I am not sure of a good cleaning method for smooth strop leather. Both of my strops are textured (TM buffed horsehide and Ill 835) so I use a stiff brush on them when they need to be cleaned.
Hope this helps!
:gl:
-Rob
Saddle soap, or Murphies oil soap + water, used gently and allowed to dry.
A note for the future I would clean all razors new to me before using them. I clean with soap and water then alcohol before I polish up any razors I get off E-bay. You don't know where its been, its last job might have been castrating sheep for petes sake.
Trust me, I do clean the heck out of my razors for the reasons you give. I soak in barbicide, wipe in MAAS, sand sometimes, scrub with toothbrush. But I do that before I start honing. I clean well after honing too, I just assume some extra amount of particles come off stropping a razor that's been recently honed like crazy.
i really like the stiff brush idea. Does the murphy oil soap affect the leather going forward?
What about GOOP itself would that work to clean a strop????? It is a cleaner and conditioner for hands and I mean really what are hands but live leather???? has anyone tried it?????
Yes, get the no pumice type.Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
Quote:
Originally Posted by ernestrome
Yes that's the stuff the old fashioned plain jane GOOP I know some of the detail guys at the Dealership use it to clean the leather interiors on used vehicles that we take in...It seems to work wonders on that leather....
I don't have an old strop that needs cleaning, or I would try it myself and see....
I took my Chinese 12k to mine and finished with a damp (almost dry) rag and it was clean as new. 12k is fine, I wouldn't risk it with any thing grittier.
I just got my new strop today. My old strop had Chromium Oxide on it, but I was wondering the difference in Micron between Flitz and Chromium Oxide.
If you strop is dry you shouldn't have any sticky stuff on it. Maybe you use too much oil or conditioner on it and everything just sticks to it and creates the goop. I know with my strops they will sometimes have some minor staining but its totally dry.
Maybe your playing in that gulf water too much.
Lots of other good ideas already posted.
Start with as little additional goo as possible.
Try rubbing it with brown paper or with another clean
but sturdy paper.
How about shave soap ... it's already recommended to condition a strop ... wouldn't it also clean the strop?
Any opinions?
Something is not right here.Quote:
Originally Posted by loueedacat
Without knowing what the goop is I would not recommend
a cleaner of any type.
I would recommend rubbing the strop with clean brown paper
or clean newsprint.
My guess is that it is normal wax and oil in the leather that is
surfacing.
Tell us the history of the strop. Has it been treated at all?
Strop dressing is "fat", some contain waxes like mink oil does.
Neatsfoot oil?
I have used GOOP, (plain, no abrasive) on a number of old strops. It cleans old strops very effectively.
However, as has been mentioned, why is your stop getting "goopy"? It really sounds like it has been over saturated with some conditioner/oil/shaving soap. I hope someone has suggestions for removing the stuff.
Good luck,:)
I have not tried this yet but what about placing the strop on an ironing board, covering it with a cloth, and then taking a warm iron and ironing it? Perhaps the heat from the iron would make the "goop" liquid and be absorbed by the cloth?
Just an idea,:)
Good idea but heat is not an ideal solution.Quote:
Originally Posted by randydance062449
Just rub with the same cloth and see if anything
comes off. Pressing without heat with clean paper
in contact with the leather can remove excess
strop dressing as will time.
Just wanted to post my very recent experience with a "sticky" or "goopy" strop. Yesterday, I used a damp rag with shave soap to clean an ebay purchased strop (note - damp rag, and not water, as I didn't want to soak the leather). Quite a bit of cordovan colored junk came off of the strop, revealing the original surface.
Anyway, what I wanted to report is that after a pretty good cleaning, I noticed a couple of nicks and one shallow surface slice that had been hidden/covered/filled by the built up residue. I am almost wondering if building up a strop with conditioners may have been a short-cut solution to a strop with nicks and cuts, much like filling a natural stone with hairline hairline cracks with wax or other substances to prevent the blade from "catching" when honing/stropping.
Anyway, once clean, I let the surface dry for 24 hours. At this point, the strop had lost its stickiness, and seemed to have a better surface for stropping, but the now exposed "crinkles", nicks, etc. made the stropping surface less than ideal. If you try this, I would suggest you may want to condition the strop following the cleaning. I am currently experimenting with glycerine rather than an oil-based conditioner, although once I see the results of the glycerine as a "restorer", I will probably use the hand-rub method for the longer term. So far, the glycerine (and I would guess a strop conditioner) has very nicely transformed the strop from one with nicks and a decent cut, to one that looks as if it is ready to be fully functional. I am theorizing that the conditioning has caused the leather to slightly swell, filling space and maybe facilitating some adhesion or bonding within the cuts/nicks. For what it's worth ...