Thread: Help with linen coating

Found it! Over the last few years it is a great strop dressing. A bit dusty at first but wears in well. I later added a bit more tallow soft soap. Mixed in a slow cooker I have enough for a couple generations.

A combination of the two formulas:
From: Standing Orders, Forms of Returns, Reports, Entries, etc. of the Queen's Dragoons Guards; 1795 -
"Take 6 pounds of the finest pipe-clay, pound it very small, put it in a tub, and put to it about 5 gallons of cold water. Let it remain for two or three days, stirring it now and then. Then take 6 ounces of gum dragon, and put it into 4 quarts of boiling water, and cover it up close for two or three days. When the gum is well dissolved, take a fine hair sieve, and strain it into the pipe-clay, and keep stirring the pipe-clay well all the time you are doing this. Then take half an ounce of stone blue, and dissolve it well amongst your colouring (this gives a clear gloss to the belts). Let it all remain one day longer, and it will be fit for use, putting it on lightly and evenly with a sponge."

1788 Strop Formula reduced amounts

From: The Discipline of the Light Horse by Capt. Hinde, 1778 (pg 559) -
"A Receipt for the White Belts. Take 1 ½ lb of Pipe-clay, 3 Quarts of Water, ¼ lb of Best Glue, ¼ lb of White Soap, Boil the Soap and Glue first, till dissolved, then Mix it with the Pipe-Clay, and Boil all together for a Quarter of an Hour; when Cold put it on a with a Sponge in the usual manner, and when Dry Rub it with a Glass-Bottle."
20%

*12 OZ. pipe cLAY

*1.5 QUARTS WATER

*1 oz fish glue

*1 oz tallow soap...more added later
Added from the later recipe to the early recipe while mixing...
+ 1 oz. Liquid laundry bluing..UV whitening agent (stone blue)

+ 1 oz. of Gum Tagacanth (Leather sealant)

Modern equivalents
From the 1795 formula, to the above, I added the:
Stone Blue, 1 0z....modern day clothes bluing for whitening.
Gum Tragacanth....Eco-Flo Gum Tragacanth; used in leather working as an edge sealant

Pipe Clay is now Finest Ball clay..like porcelain clay

Adding a abrasive later and mixing it in well while warm will work. I have tried a couple with small batches of the original mix. Here you are on your own.

Have fun!
~Richard
PS. After mixing store the mass in a seal able covered container with a plastic wrap pressed firmly onto the surface to prevent deterioration..mold growth, etc.

Richard this is fantastic thanks very much. The tallow or white soap did you use body or shaving soap for this. I think this is going to be bigger than I originally thought but I suppose once done I will have enough for my lifetime so should be worth the effort. Do you think a preserving jar with the rubber seals would be fine to keep it in. Maybe you should add this to the library. This is something im sure would be helpful to others in the future

Originally Posted by eddy79

Richard this is fantastic thanks very much. The tallow or white soap did you use body or shaving soap for this. I think this is going to be bigger than I originally thought but I suppose once done I will have enough for my lifetime so should be worth the effort. Do you think a preserving jar with the rubber seals would be fine to keep it in. Maybe you should add this to the library. This is something im sure would be helpful to others in the future

I used an old tallow soap from an antiques store. Any tallow soap would be fine. I use a large preserving jar similar to what you ask. Still like any spoilable wet material, it does need to be protected from ambient air. So that is the reason for the "saran" wrap on the surface. I did this exercise for a buddy that wanted to go into the strop business a few years back.
Have fun!! A "Goodwill" used crock pot works a treat for this kind of crazyness!!
~Richard

Thanks Richard. At this point the ball clay might be the hardest part to track down. They seem to come in various mixtures as it isn't a pure clay but a mix and everything I have seen so far is for bulk amounts.

Originally Posted by eddy79

Thanks Richard. At this point the ball clay might be the hardest part to track down. They seem to come in various mixtures as it isn't a pure clay but a mix and everything I have seen so far is for bulk amounts.

Most any town now has an art or craft pottery. They may be able to help. I had to buy 5 pounds on line from a pottery supply house.
~Richard

Originally Posted by Geezer

Found it! Over the last few years it is a great strop dressing. A bit dusty at first but wears in well. I later added a bit more tallow soft soap. Mixed in a slow cooker I have enough for a couple generations.

A combination of the two formulas:
From: Standing Orders, Forms of Returns, Reports, Entries, etc. of the Queen's Dragoons Guards; 1795 -
"Take 6 pounds of the finest pipe-clay, pound it very small, put it in a tub, and put to it about 5 gallons of cold water. Let it remain for two or three days, stirring it now and then. Then take 6 ounces of gum dragon, and put it into 4 quarts of boiling water, and cover it up close for two or three days. When the gum is well dissolved, take a fine hair sieve, and strain it into the pipe-clay, and keep stirring the pipe-clay well all the time you are doing this. Then take half an ounce of stone blue, and dissolve it well amongst your colouring (this gives a clear gloss to the belts). Let it all remain one day longer, and it will be fit for use, putting it on lightly and evenly with a sponge."

1788 Strop Formula reduced amounts

From: The Discipline of the Light Horse by Capt. Hinde, 1778 (pg 559) -
"A Receipt for the White Belts. Take 1 ½ lb of Pipe-clay, 3 Quarts of Water, ¼ lb of Best Glue, ¼ lb of White Soap, Boil the Soap and Glue first, till dissolved, then Mix it with the Pipe-Clay, and Boil all together for a Quarter of an Hour; when Cold put it on a with a Sponge in the usual manner, and when Dry Rub it with a Glass-Bottle."
20%

*12 OZ. pipe cLAY

*1.5 QUARTS WATER

*1 oz fish glue

*1 oz tallow soap...more added later
Added from the later recipe to the early recipe while mixing...
+ 1 oz. Liquid laundry bluing..UV whitening agent (stone blue)

+ 1 oz. of Gum Tagacanth (Leather sealant)

Modern equivalents
From the 1795 formula, to the above, I added the:
Stone Blue, 1 0z....modern day clothes bluing for whitening.
Gum Tragacanth....Eco-Flo Gum Tragacanth; used in leather working as an edge sealant

Pipe Clay is now Finest Ball clay..like porcelain clay

Adding a abrasive later and mixing it in well while warm will work. I have tried a couple with small batches of the original mix. Here you are on your own.

Have fun!
~Richard
PS. After mixing store the mass in a seal able covered container with a plastic wrap pressed firmly onto the surface to prevent deterioration..mold growth, etc.

if I have it right you have made both of these individually. To the first you added soap and to the second you added the gum and the stone blue. If this is correct only the second has glue in it that would be a different ingredient, Which therefore do you find to be closest to the original coatings found on these strops. And I was wrong it turns out everything is hard to get and will probably need to be ordered online. The ball clay I might be able to get but it seems to come in different varieties and am trying to figure out which will be the finest. Did you pound the ball clay as mentioned in the recipe or was it used as is. Also looking at the glue recipe it says glue amount by weight. Would this be the old hide glue which was a dry product which you just added water to when needed. From my research it was pretty common and was stored as granuls or sheets and made up as needed so would have been readily available

Seriously modified!

"Take 1lb,3oz of the finest pipe-clay, and put to it about 32oz. of cold water. I used a sealable canister of about half gallon size. Let it remain for two or three days, stirring it now and then. Then take .6 oz ounces of gum dragon, and put it into 1pint of boiling water, I then poured it into a glass canister with a sealed lid. and covered it up close for two or three days.
Place the soaked clay and its extra water into a 6 quart crock pot and bring to a slow boil for a half hour. At this point, I also added the half ounce of Fish Glue. Add the gum mix to the bubbling pipe-clay, and keep stirring the pipe-clay well all the time you are doing this. Then take half an ounce of stone blue, (Laundry blueing)and dissolve it well amongst your colouring (this gives a clear white gloss to the belts). At this point i added the bar and a half of finely ground ( dust!) bar soap, it was a double tallow hard soap. I let it burble for a couple more hours and then used the stick blender as it boiled on low heat. I put the mix back into the half gallon canister after it had cooled.. Let it all remain in there a couple days longer. Then I stick blended it again while it was cold. And that made it better and fit for use. Put it on lightly and evenly with a sponge, or i inch brush and bottling it in."
This is is the 10% batch that I made. I used a 6 quart crock pot to heat and to a low boil and add the ingredients to the already soaked clay and water.
PIPE CLAY
Fine ball clay no iron
Clay bodies
Continental Clay
Ceramic Pottery Supplies Equipment Wheels Kilns - Continental Clay Co
Clay & Glaze Chemicals ... Continental Clay •
1101 Stinson Blvd Minneapolis, MN 55413
(612) 331-9332
Found the gum: Eco-Flo Gum Tragacanth
Tandy Leather - Eco-Flo Gum Tragacanth

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tandy-Leathe...-/370585102239
__________________________________________________ _________________________

Thanks. Very seriously modified. The gum of the period also seems likley to have been a powder or flakes and that would be why it needed dissolving and straining. The eco flo is an already re hydrated product so shouldn't need dissolving and may affect the volume it swells as it is hydrated and in the original recipe the 6 oz in 4 quarts of water may have make the equivalent of 4 quarts of eco flo? The glue coming as a dry not a liquid may have had a similar volume discrepancy compared to a fluid version. I think I may have to buy ss original as possible make both individually check performance and modify from there I will just scale back the amounts to make small amounts. I think this is a rabbit hole I should have left alone.

More research and from the 16th century through to beginning of the 18th century seems white soap was a vegetable soap make from olive oil and was also known as castile soap. Stone blue also makes me think they would have used a rock style blueing which is actually blue iron oxide. The liquid stuff is a suspended powder but blocks aslo used to be available so that would fit with them using a weight measure for that too. At least I think I have figured out the ingredients now just to get them all. I think fixing this strop may cost me twice what the strop did.

Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluing_%28fabric%29
Blue colorings have been added to rinse water for centuries, first in the form of powder blue or smalt, or using small lumps of indigo and starch, called stone blue.
Bluing is usually sold in liquid form, but it may also be a solid. Solid bluing is sometimes used by hoodoo doctors to provide the blue color needed for "mojo hands" without having to use the toxic compound copper sulfate. Bluing was also used by some Native American Tribes to mark their arrows showing tribe ownership.[citation needed]
Laundry bluing is made of a very fine blue iron powder suspended in water (a colloidal suspension).
I used Mrs Stewarts. It may still be found in antique stores. Usually about $9 for a partially full pint bottle.
~Richard
PS The Brits didn't use Rockets til about 1806 or so. So this is not rocket science.
I used a no-iron clay body, a simple old hard double tallow soap from a junk store. Mrs Stewart's Bluing, fish glue from an art store.
The Crock pot evaporated all the extra moisture after the clay had absorbed all the water it could. Then, adding the other ingredients was easy and extra time got rid of any extra water. The stuff is about the same consistency as a good mustard sauce or a bit thicker.