Thread: Repairing An Overdressed Strop?

Originally Posted by Bruce

Another possible treatment would be to use paper towels and a warm iron. You want to draw out the excessive oils, so putting more goop on may be counter-productive. Mild heat and an absorbant pick-up medium should pull out much of the unneeded dressing.

good luck,

It's a good way to draw oils & waxes from many items. It'll get candlewax out of a carpet too. I'd imagine that as long as you used common sense & didn't cook the strop it would work very well. Of course, there's no accounting for stupid.

Good stuff, as always. I have made some changes and amendments to the Strop page in the Wiki. Feel free to enhance. Strop treatment and repair - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Originally Posted by AusTexShaver

Have you ever done this? How did you explain this sort of use (and the resulting mess) of your wife's favorite iron?

I suggest you road test this with YOUR strop before offering advice which is almost guaranteed to damage the strop. You could probably sop up the excess oil by soaking the strop in kitty litter too...but I wouldn't recommend it.

AusTexShaver,

I always appreciate a kindly dose of reality and the implication of being a fool certainly is that figurative bucket of refreshing cold water. I'll certainly temper my suggestions in the future.

Originally Posted by Bruce

AusTexShaver,

I always appreciate a kindly dose of reality and the implication of being a fool certainly is that figurative bucket of refreshing cold water. I'll certainly temper my suggestions in the future.

Bruce,

It is I who should apologize to you. My post came out a little harsher than I intended.

In my younger days I used to tool leather (making belts, purses and such) and I've probably either done or seen just about everything you can do to a piece of leather.

While as others have attested to it is possible to use heat/towels to sop up excess oils it isn't something I'd recommend...especially to a novice. Too much heat can ruin a fine piece of leather and there's a very fine line between just right and too much.

The best advice I ever received concerning leather was from an old timer who told me to always treat it like it was the skin on your face and you will never go wrong...and that's why you'll always notice in my posts my recommending products that are specifically formulated for leather...and never see me removing the excess oil on my face with a towel and a hot iron.

I too had on one occasion inadvertently over dressed my strop and didn’t notice until I realized I was over tightening my razors pivot pin because the “draw” on the strop was too much.
Paper towels/newspaper will absorb oils from the strop even without the “mildly heated” iron… the heated iron only speeds up the process because the hot oil is less viscous, so the towel will quickly soak it up.
I would occasionally use a paper towel to “soak up” facial oils from my face on a hot summer day…. newspaper tends to be a little hard on my face so I don’t use it much....

Originally Posted by Bruce

Another possible treatment would be to use paper towels and a warm iron. You want to draw out the excessive oils, so putting more goop on may be counter-productive. Mild heat and an absorbant pick-up medium should pull out much of the unneeded dressing.

good luck,

I've tried it too, and it works well - notice Bruce says warm to mid heat - that's crucial for leather. It's the basis of batik-work and a very old process, used for pulling the wax resist out of fabrics, when a high heat would be used. Doesn't damage iron, strop or ironing board - if you use a bit of common-sense, as Bruce advised!

Regards,
Neil

[quote=AusTexShaver;336573]In my younger days I used to tool leather (making belts, purses and such) and I've probably either done or seen just about everything you can do to a piece of leather.[/quote]

Excellent. I've always used and been partial to Lexol. Now I have some validation that it's really good stuff and good for leather.