Strop Restoration - Martin J Rubin

I won this strop on the bay this week for a very reasonable price. The seller had no knowledge of shaving equipment and documented all of the damage on the strop in the sales ad, which I found admirable by them. The only problem is, since they knew nothing of strops, they said the "backside" of the strop had a cut in it, but the strop, to my knowledge, was in the holder backwards and the gouge is on the front printed side. (The printed side "feels" like it should be the the stropping side and to my knowledge the side with the manufacturing info is "generally" always the stropping side.) The linen is in great shape and the leather, though dry like most all vintage strops, seems to be in good condition, just needing some serious moisturizing.


Would you recommend sanding the entire stropping side, or just the area where the gouge is? I am planning on cleaning with some saddle soap, but I will be more careful with this strop. The last one I did was so gunky and nicotine stained, I obliterated the "Clydesdale" and "Certifyed" logos with zealous scrubbing. Attached are some photos. Thank you in advance for the help and recommendations.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h7...ps89la5toj.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h7...ps3krvwang.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h7...psyuwfwuil.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h7...psdriskdrb.jpg

I would not sand the entire surface. Any flaps can be glued down with rubber cement. A smooth piece of glass works well to smooth the surface. I think most of the time a glass or bottle gets used. Be careful with how much neatsfoot oil you use. I have a strop that you can oil your blade while stropping. Slow and steady wins the race.

Thanks Rez. Yea the other strop I did had one piece of Shell Cordovan and the other was leather. I used Ballistol on the leather and TONS of neatsfoot on the Horsehide. The stropping side feels great but I have to keep wiping neatsfoot off the back side where is comes out the pores. The neatsfoot side had GREAT elasticity now though!

Looks like a good find. I would start with using a damp but not wet cloth to try and clean the leather off. It should get darker as it absorbs a bit of water. Once you have both sides cleaned pretty well, use a flat round piece of glass to smooth the surface of the leather first. Be carefull to keep the glass flat, so as not to gouge the leather. Let it dry for at least a day. After it dries, you will have a better idea of what you need to work on, to see what kind of glue/ sanding you need to do.

After this is done, you can get an idea if you will need to oil it or not.

Also, Shell leather is made by sanding the grain surface (skin) of the leather from the cheeks of the backside of a horse. The fibers just below the grain surface are very dense, and go in all directions. This surface is buffed to make the sufrace of shell leather. So if the damage is not something you can smooth out, you can restore funtion to the strop by using the backside of the leather strip, which the original owner may have done. That would explain the leather being backwards.

I've had good luck cleaning and brightening linen in a large pot of water + OxyClean. Heat the water, slowly add OC (it will bubble over if the pot is too full or the OC goes in too fast) and stir. Put in the linen strop until the water is disgusting; rinse/repeat until you're happy with the results. So far this method has, at worst, lightened nomenclature a little. If three or four treatments don't do the trick there is always some Dawn/blue and a scrub brush to try. The stuff is incredibly tough. Pat dry, flatten or hang. Iron/steam out irregularities (if any) after drying.

What they said above - go slow on the leather and don't use much oil treatment. I spent a couple of hours cleaning up an oldie a couple of weeks ago. Between a bolng the linen, a little saddle soap froth to lift the leather grunge, some very light spot sanding and a touch up with dye it came out great. Nice action and very decent appearance considering how rotten it looked when it arrived. I swear, old strops always end up looking better than I'd imagine given some time/patience.

Good luck. Post "AFTER" pix!

I wiped it down with a damp rag last night and it got pretty dark. (The surface of the leather.) I hope it lightens back up. I used just a little saddle soap on the damp rag too. As I was wiping it down, the cut was really lifting up, almost like its delaminating from the top surface. My initial gut feeling is that I will be able to lift it up and apply a little rubber cement under it and then clamp it flat. I'll probably lightly sand and then begin the slow neatsfoot conditioning process. The first round of Oxi-Clean linen cleaning went really well and after just one round it actually looks pretty nice. I only lost some of the "S" in "Special Linen"

A couple of issues have come up. I am using Frielings Saddle Soap and it says to "lather up" but for the life of me I cant get any lather. It stays more like mink oil. Second, do you recommend neatsfoot or should I use a leather "conditioner". Lots of tack shops where I live so I have access to both

FWIW, I cut a flap in my Tony Miller horsehide some years ago (if you're going to drink, don't strop) and I used Contact Cement to glue it. You can't see it if you didn't know it was there.

I doubt that a clamp is going to be needed to get that flat to lay flat. lift it up and dab a little contact cement under it, let the flap down to spread the glue and then lift it back up. Allow the glue to dry to almost no tack left, then lay it down and smooth it from the back to the open edge. Wipe up any extra glue before it dries. All will be well.

P.S.
Don't oil it until the glue is set up and use the mink oil.

For cleaning the linen http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ditioning.html

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h7...psnblrwio9.jpg
One soaking in oxi clean, scrub then air dry. Followed 2 days later with a soak in Gain detergent, scrub brush then a clear water rinse. Linen wasn't very yucky so I called it DONE.

On to the leather repair. The area where there was a cut would actually fold up as if it were delaminating. Based on recommendations, I used DAP contact cement. I used a toothpick to put just a little under the flap and smoothed out with a bourbon glass. (Empty...well at least to start). I probably didn't need to, but I clamped the area with a hand clamp to insure "flattness"
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h7...psyxf57vsg.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h7...psxhczqrni.jpg

After 24 hours, I used 1500 grit sandpaper to smooth out the area as smooth as possible.
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h7...pselrylcz6.jpg

And now on to "rehydrating" the strop. For this I am using neatsfoot oil. This strop is REALLY dry to the point you hear fibers cracking if you bend it at all. The last strop I did I drenched the strop in neatsfoot. This time I am going a little slower. Putting a thin coat every 12 hours orso to allow it to absorb fully.


More to come.......


*** Side note, when wiping down the strop with a damp rag, I opted to try and use saddle soap. I never got it to foam up so I have probably "stained" the center of the strop a dark color. No damage, just not as aesthetically pleasing. ***

You could also go with an application or two or neatsfoot oil to the back of the strop if it is that dry. Give it a very good rub down with your hand before the next coat. If the heat from your hand starts to draw oil from the strop you already have more than enough. As soon as the warmed surface stops feeling dry and start to feel supple you have put enough on. It is easy to ad more later if you choose but taking it back is not easy

I have an issue with the back side of the strop. The leather is REALLY dry and cracked and what I would call "glazed". I am not certain if it will absorb oil, so I am curious if I should lightly sand through some of this. Your thoughts?
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h7...psm8jahc9m.jpg
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I would just put a light coat of oil on it and see what happens. The back side is not normally used but is a way of getting penetration of the oil from both sides, helping to revive the leather a little faster.

I would put a light coat on the back, and let it soak overnight. Even glazed leather will absorb oil. The fibers in leather are like little hollow straws. They will wick it from the surface to the interior. In shell leather like this, they run in all directions, so will absorb even better. Linen looks great, and the repair looks pretty good too. The leather will likely darken as you put oil on it. If you are doing light coats, it should come back to or at least close to it's original color.

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Originally Posted by Drygulch

I would put a light coat on the back, and let it soak overnight. Even glazed leather will absorb oil. The fibers in leather are like little hollow straws. They will wick it from the surface to the interior. In shell leather like this, they run in all directions, so will absorb even better. Linen looks great, and the repair looks pretty good too. The leather will likely darken as you put oil on it. If you are doing light coats, it should come back to or at least close to it's original color.

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Thanks for your guidance on this. While I am not unhappy with the last strop I did (I practically bathed it in oil) I am/have been following your guidance on this one, and doing multiple light coats, spaced apart from each other, to allow the fibers to soak in slowly.
I have to say, it's killing me to do so with my ADHD!

Great thread and thank you all for sharing.

I have a King Shell that came in with some bay razors that is in pretty good shape (pics to follow)
The second strop is pressed leather with Crox in pretty good shape.
The shell side is a little dirty, still very supple but it has a cut on one edge that I think will close up well with contact cement.

My question to the group is the order of repair.

I was thinking:
Fix the cut
Sand if necessary
Gently clean the grim with saddle soap
Condition if nessiscary
Leave the Crox side alone for the moment.

Is that the correct order?

Ahh. This is where Neil would come in with a ton of knowledge and sort it all out. RIP.

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Originally Posted by Steel

Ahh. This is where Neil would come in with a ton of knowledge and sort it all out. RIP.

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Is it not the true measure of someone - how much he is missed ?
RIP

Amen to that. RIP Neil

Sorry no photos (yet) but, I finally reached the critical mass area in regards to neatsfoot oil. It isn't abosorbing as much any more and I get a bit coming off in my hand when I hand rub the strop.

Sadly, I am not uber enthusiastic about how the strop came out. I think I boogered up the look of it when I tried scrubbing it with saddle soap. Also, I think in some areas, the leather was just too shot out. The center part of the strop seems to be okay, but its really fragile and falling apart a bit close to the bottom, by the logo. Also when stropping, the strop appears to "cup" on the edges and I have to pull really tight to keep it flat.

Running a razor back and forth on it today about 100 times, it was as if I was conditioning the leather and knocking off a layer of gunk. My straight razor was coated in a layer of felt like brown gunk. I imagine this is just old material that will eventually get all knocked off as I get to the "good" leather .

The linen aspect is really nice, and at the end of the day, I may take the linen and match it up with the horsehide "Clydesdale" strop I restored a few weeks ago. The funny thing is, the leather on that strop feels twice as thick as this one I am currently finishing up on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MJC

Great thread and thank you all for sharing.

I have a King Shell that came in with some bay razors that is in pretty good shape (pics to follow)
The second strop is pressed leather with Crox in pretty good shape.
The shell side is a little dirty, still very supple but it has a cut on one edge that I think will close up well with contact cement.

My question to the group is the order of repair.

I was thinking:
Fix the cut
Sand if necessary
Gently clean the grim with saddle soap
Condition if nessiscary
Leave the Crox side alone for the moment.

Is that the correct order?

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I have been doing leather work for a while, and dealing with old saddles and tack since I was a kid. I would suggest avoiding saddle soap, until you clean it with a damp (but not dripping) rag several times. Let it fully dry (24 to 48 hours) between each attempt. If you put saddle soap on it from the get go, you will change the feel and surface of the leather, so it may not absorb any conditioner or oil, and may make it harder to clean. This doesn't matter with saddles as much, because they aren't being used to strop a blade. After the strop is clean and dry, if it needs conditioner, put very light coats on, and let it dry 24-48 hours between coats. Any moisture you put on the leather needs time for the fibers to absorb it and move it from the surface to the interior. Good luck!

@TheFiveO, it sounds like your leather might be too far gone. Pictures would help, but if parts of the surface are flaking off, you probably won't ever get an even, smooth surface to strop on.