Thread: Best conditioner for this type of leather?

First clean it, with a damp sponge and wipe with a clean paper towel. If it continues to come off black, use a little bit of saddle soap and not too much water. You want to clean it, so you don’t work the dirt into the leather.

Keep wiping, with clean paper towels, until the towels wipe clean, no black. Your leather does not look too bad, but a very dirty strop, may take more than one cleaning, you don’t want to get the leather too wet, so you may have to let it dry and reapply saddle soap.

When you apply oil, Ballistol or Neatsfoot, do so on a damp strop. Wipe with a damp sponge and wait 15 -20 minutes for the water to absorb, then put a few drop on to a pad of clean paper towel and rub it in. I do both sides.

The trick is to rehydrate the leather slowly. Let it set for a few days, up to a week. If you feel it needs more, dampen again and wipe on a few drops more. Just remember it took many years to dry out, re-hydrate slowly. It can take months to properly bring back a leather strop.

Once you got it re-hydrated, then begin to work oil into the leather, some use a table leg, I use a thrift store rolling pin, suspended by the handles, from my roll up garage door track, with a couple pieces of coat hanger. Start almost straight and work the leather on the pin or leg to loosen up the fibers and add flexibility to the strop, make sure the leather is well hydrated or you will crack the leather.

Adding moisture, a once a week wipe down, with a damp sponge or microfiber and a couple drops of oil, will keep your strop in top shape.

The linen will wash up like new, soaking and washing, in Woolite and Oxi Clean and drying in the sun. It may take some long soaks, (overnight), a few washings and scrubbing with a finger nail brush, but it will come clean. There are several good post on washing linen.

Old linen, true flax linen, also is a joy to use and a real performer.