Thread: Are vintage strops worth buying?

I saw a vintage strop the other day in an antique store, about $22 I think. It didn't have any markings that I could make out. It was 2 piece, leather and linen or canvas. No cuts in either. Didn't appear dried out but showed lots of use. I have no clue what old strops are worth so I left it hanging on the display. Would it be worth the trouble of cleaning and restoring. I've not done either to leather before, so would I be able to tackle this or just leave it hanging on the display.

Speaking of 2 1/2 wide and 24" long professional barber's strops such as Koken, dubl duck, C-Mon, Wester Bros, Red Imp, Beau Brummel they are all top quality strops. Finding one in excellent or better condition they are a heckuva strop. If they are complete with original or correct linen I've found them to be worth the money.

These shorter non pro strops are unknown to me. Some of them may be good. If it is in fair or worse condition I would look elsewhere. I wouldn't buy one that didn't have a name on it. If the maker didn't think enough of his product to put his name on it I don't think much of it either.

I haven't found many strops worth looking at twice, and the few I grabbed ended up coming apart as I tried to "restore" them to usable condition.

If you double it over and it shows no cracks, it still may disintegrate... leather is weird stuff to me, and I am still learning.

Yes, I have a couple that are awesome. I have A Dubl Duck, and another Vintage. The name escapes me at the moment, That one needed some work, but it was fun restoring it. Some saddle soap, neetsfoot oil and little muscle, and it was awesome. The canvas/fabric part was a little more challenging, but well worth it...

Originally Posted by joke1176

I haven't found many strops worth looking at twice, and the few I grabbed ended up coming apart as I tried to "restore" them to usable condition.

If you double it over and it shows no cracks, it still may disintegrate... leather is weird stuff to me, and I am still learning.

I have to agree with the above comment. I bought two vintage strops and both of them ended up disintegrating. On one of them, the leather itself proved to be somewhat OK, but the stitching of the handles and hardware yokes was dry rotted and turned to dust in just a few days.

If there are no cracks in the leather, good, but rub it hard with the palm of your hand and see if it starts to fall apart, if not it could be a good invest ment, a little saddle soap and neatsfoot oil will bring it back to life.

Thanks everyone. I think I'll go back Saturday and take a closer look. It did have a name on it at one time but I couldn't make out what it was from what was left of it. I'll try and remember the names mentioned and see if it could possibly match.

Here's some pics. You can get good vintage strops. Sometimes, they need a little work. If the pics are good enough, you can tell what your getting....I'm not quite sure why I had the one taken apart. I may have been rubbing neetsfoot oil into it.....