Thread: To Restore Or Not To Restore...

I had some cash burning a hole in my pocket (I really need flame-resistant pockets), so I bought this old Illinois 6452 when I saw it for cheap.

Having little experience with strops and no experience with leather since the cubscouts, I don't know if it is worthy of restoration or not. I'm only asking because I don't have a workshop full of supplies and am on a budget of the unemployed type. I love to reuse old stuff rather than dump it in a landfill, but leather isn't exactly in short supply. It's a matter of how serviceable this strop could be, how much it would cost to get it there, and how much it would cost to make/buy a new one.

Here are the photos. Click on them; some have captions.

Thanks for any advice,
Jonathan

Yo, check this out mate; you should get some nice results

How-To and Why -

Mister Lewis, after checking out your pics and intentions, I'd say you are well on your way. By all means use a little crazy glue to secure the flaps, a mild soap and water treatment for the canvas/linen will do no harm, For the leather a treatment of saddle soap will help. Let the leather as well as the canvas/linen air dry(please, no direct heat), when finished drying, a coat or two of neatsfoot oil will rejuvenate the leather, give it plenty of time to soak in. If the leather is more stiff than supple at this time feel free to run a rolling pin over it a few times or run it like a shoeshine rag over a rounded surface to restore flexibility. Welcome to SRP, we're here for ya brother! Kelly