Thread: Great grandfathers old strop

"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it."

If you go over to the honing section and search for Iwasaki's guide to honing, in it there is a strop care section. I'd advise ignoring the advice about gasoline...

But yes if it cordovan shell you can indeed sand it. I've sanded a couple of Kanoyamas out to 1500 grit and then rubbed them with a nagura stone and both shine like mirrors.

And if it is shell, you should avoid any fat on the surface according to the instructions given at AFrames Tokyo for the Kanoyama strops.

Cheers, Steve

Liquid Glycerin. I have a certain brand that I use that has other conditioners in it ( old family recipe ) but it cleans and hydrates and conditions all at once. It's easy to use and you won't mess up by using to much. Forget neetsfoot oil. Too much of that on old leather and you will rot it out the other direction. Too much oil is like to dry, it does the same thing to leather. Also pay attention to your saddle soap. Half the brands have wax it them . You do not want that on your strop either. Be careful sanding shell. It has a very thin epidural layer and if you go through that you have suede. This will be easy to do if you have nicks as the edges will expose the edge of this layer and it will go through it in a heart beat. After you get it clean you may want to burnish it and see if that smooths things out better. A PITA but better than sanding.

As for the metal ( if that's what it is) if you can't feel it I doubt your razor will either :<0) It may come out as you use it or it is pressed down in from using it. The lesson here is use the linen first and get the blade clean before it hits the leather.

Making progress!

Today after doing the first rehydrating pass on my strop I noticed that I could feel the metal dust (or whatever it is) more clearly than before... Dont know if I it is because of the rehydrating process or if I just happened to drag my hand in a new way over the stop. But I felt them, thinking "Oh man, Im never gonna be able to use it now...". Then I noticed a was able to "drag the out" using my thumb So, for some reason, I took a sheet of sandpaper and started rubbing the strop with the back side of it. The fine cardboard paper on the back of the sandpaper actually gave the leather a nice polish, and it removed most of the dust! (more effectively than my thomb) Hope to be able to get rid of the last parts of it tomorrow after another rehydration.

The back of the sandpaper also did smoothen some parts out that felt a bit "rough".

/Jacob

The leather expended from the inside exposing your dust. The back of the paper is burnishing a little. You might try rubbing real hard with a towel to finish getting the particles out. Looks like you going to get this working fine again :<0)

yep, as expected I got rid of the last remaining dust after another rehydration today! So now it is all done!

Here is what it looks like! I will try it out tomorrow and see how it performs

It has a bit of scratches and stuff left, but I think and hope they'll do no harm. I'll find out tomorrow!

and I'll also attach a before and after pic of the linen side. I cleaned it as good as I could, it still has some dark spots but nothing that will affect the stroping. And I dont mind that it looks old and used, gives it a bit character


Thank you all for helping me bring my heirloom back to life!

Jacob