Thread: Linen fire hose strops

My last Illinois strop was a 827. It was rough and bumpy, the fabric was hard and really zippy.
Did not like it, personally.

So as I found this 361, it is smooth and has nice medium draw. Reminds me of good English bridle. It did, however have that same fabric. I like the hard zippy stuff for workshop/honing use, but wanted something smoother and softer for daily use.

I had a length of old fire-hose linen and proceeded to make me 2 hanging strops and one to fit a lipshaw strop from it.



The stuff was grungy, so I cut it into 3 lengths and proceeded to clean them in a way I had done before with some good success.

In the boiling pot of water went the strop, 3 tablespoons of Oxyclean, and a splash of bleach.
Fizzy!



After 15 minutes or so, the grunge came loose. Coffee, anyone?



Dumped the dirty water, put some more on to boil, rinsed the linen inside and out, back in the pot, repeat again twice with clean water.

I then laid out the strop on paper towels, covered with same, and smashed it with a piece of Corian and a fair deal of weight on top for 3 hours or so.


The strop came out damp and stiff. I squeezed the sides to open it up and allowed to dry overnite.



Next morning it was dry and still stiff, but breaking it over a chair back, pulling back and forth limbered it up to it's previous state. Lots cleaner and smoother.
Before and after!