Thread: Fire hose strop

I have heard how fantastic fire hose strops are. I was determine to find one and have on Ebay. The person I bought mine from has about 50 new ones he has made. I have no idea how good this is but I can't wait to try it. As usual I am having a problem downloading a photo of the strop. I am not sure if posting his name is in the rules so if anyone is interested, pm me for his contact info and a photo. When I get it I will try and take another photo to post.

The trick with Fire Hose strops is, it must be clean, washed and rinsed several times, to get all the dirt out of the weave.

I made some strops from NOS firehose that spent its life in a firehose cabinet, it took 7-8 soaking, washing, soaking and rinsing cycles before the rinse water rinsed clear. It took me 2 weeks to go through the whole cycle.

The hardest thing is to rinse all the soap out, soap attracts dirt and dust.

A properly clean linen strop should be as soft as an old sock. It should not need to be ironed to lay flat.

And yes, they can polish an edge.

And, No, I do not have any for sale, it is a lot of work.

OK----OK---Marty so I get it.
It's ALOT of work but do you know where I can get a piece of that NOS firehose?
I'm a glutton for punishment!

The pieces I bought were from a member (IDRider) I don’t know if he has any left.

There was a guy on EBay selling pieces for a few dollars per foot. It does shrink. I don’t recall how much exactly, but I think about 2 inches in length, the width stayed the same.

There is an old post on it where idrider offered to sell pieces, and others posted about making one.

I know we have discussed this before but you can get quality Linen imported from France perfect for making a strop. You just need to look for a Bakers Cartouche. Amazon has them in all sizes.

Originally Posted by FranfC

OK----OK---Marty so I get it.
It's ALOT of work but do you know where I can get a piece of that NOS firehose?
I'm a glutton for punishment!

PM me, I think I have some left.

Just got the fire hose strop. Soft and tight weave. I did 20 laps then 40 on my TM leather strop. Really nice edge. Very polished and the shave was smooth with no irritation. Well worth the money.

Think the spell corrector nicked your post.
It is a baker's couche.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...3Abakers+linen
Ebay also has them.

You have to check the thickness and whether the ends are finished or left unfinished.

Lately, I have been making some with a bit more modern polyester fire-hose from the 70's.
Like a leisure-suit!
I prefer it to antique unlined linen stuff anyday.

This is lined with a thin, neutral membrane. The sort of stuff for one-use like we may have seen in buildings, Hotels, etc.

It irons-out nice and strops much smoother.
In fact, My old natural linen ones I cleaned and restored are getting super-stiff with time.

Seems the nature of the stuff.

Polyester fire-hose.