Thread: Fire hose strop cleaning

Picked up some old linen fire hose strop. Dirty as you can see. Ran it on delicate in the wash with warm water. Still quite dirty. Inside even dirtier. Now the hose is wayyy stiff! As if it shrunk and hardened. Is this common?

Should I wash again and again until much cleaner?

Check with Sharptonn. He knows his stuff.

I got a new one from torolf at scruple works few years ago. Me and a few pals bought several to lower the shipping costs. Well worth it as some of the old stuff can be pasted.

Oxygen bleach will work wonders to lighten it back up, it must be dried rapidly though as it can suffer from cellulosic browning if left wet too long.

I would scrub with dish washer liquid and brush. Rinse well and soak in water and Oxi-Clean.

I have two, well one now as i gave one away, of that same hose. When its wet it gets stiff. Thats how it works to keep the water n the hose as there is no liner.

I used oxyclean a few times in the washer. Also used a scrub brush. Now its very soft. Softer than i really wanted. Guessing it still does the job but not as agressively. A few days of drying and work it by running it over the back of a chair back of forth as if trying to polish a shoe and it will limber back up. But you get it wet again and it will stiffen right back up.

Originally Posted by Gasman

I have two, well one now as i gave one away, of that same hose. When its wet it gets stiff. Thats how it works to keep the water n the hose as there is no liner.

I used oxyclean a few times in the washer. Also used a scrub brush. Now its very soft. Softer than i really wanted. Guessing it still does the job but not as agressively. A few days of drying and work it by running it over the back of a chair back of forth as if trying to polish a shoe and it will limber back up. But you get it wet again and it will stiffen right back up.

Is it necessary to get it white again? I’ve scrubbed, soaked, scrubbed and soaked. May do this a few more times. Some of this dirt may be permanent I’m afraid...

Mine isnt really white. More of a cream color. As long as there is no specks of grit on it is the main thing as grit is damage on an edge.

Yup, if it is dirty it is full of grit, and will never polish a bevel. It will scratch a bevel that will lead to edge chipping.

It takes a lot to clean a used firehose and remove all the grit. Even if it looks clean the weave can hold lots of dirt and grit.

I purchased a length of new firehose, but even it was loaded with dirt, dust and grit. Here is a thread on how I cleaned the hose. Flax does get rock hard, and will break if bent, once it is dry is will soften.

Here is the firehose thread. (Oak Tanned English Shell)

Mine has softened well after it dries but all linen gets stiff as a board while wet. It can also shrink a bit, as will cotton webbing when washed so something to think about if you wash the cloth on an existing strop and wonder why it is no longer as long as the leather. Be careful of it unraveling, especially when wet. You can sew the ends shut or cut the piece longer than needed and trim back to size once dry. I seal the ends of all of my cloth strops to prevent unraveling.

While I like the texture of flat linen webbing (real linen) the heavier weight of the fire hose does feel nice even if not quite as flat.