Thread: Warning

On several occasions I have recommended to iron out creases in leather strops. That was until I tried the same trick on a near mint Dovo Juchten (= Rindleder, Russia leather) strop that I had acquired with a Dovo razor. It tried to iron out creases that were caused by its previous owner who had folded the strop.

Disaster!! Strop dried out, cupped, turned very dark and stiffened up and I am now in the process of trying to "rapair" it if you like with oils.

So, ironing does work but only on strops made of well oiled leather. E.g. a Tony Miller Latigo strop and a Kanayama strop.

Russia leather is tanned very differently from many other leathers. That's probably why.

Heat is an enemy of leather. Kind of like giving medicine which is really poison but in the right amount cures and the wrong amount kills.

Thanks for the warning, I would be quite disappointed if that happened to me. I'm going to try it on the linen side though, hopefully it doesn't damage it.

sorry to hear you've damaged it hopefully you can bring it back , having tanned and done plenty of leather craft in the past I would suggest a safer way to go to remove crease's ect would be to wrap the strop in a dam cloth a few hrs or overnight then lay on clean flat surface and use a heavy rolling pin preferably stone , or take it end to end and work it over a smooth round surface , good luck