Thread: Few New Goodies

So I recently posted looking for a used strop and ended up getting to meet a fellow straight shaver. Pretty cool needless to say to get the chance to meet new people.

Ended up grabbing a vintage Russian Leather strop, with what looks like a very thick coarse linen that has a bunch of crusty paste on one side. Not really sure what to do with it, after a wash its still all crusty.



I plan on just giving the leather a wash with a damp microfiber, and then lightly sanding out the scratches with 2500 w/d 3m sand paper. Keeping the paper wet. Other than that she still feels really supple but will most likely stiffen up a little after all the moisture. So maybe a touch of mink oil. I will post pictures as I progress with it.

The other strop I got was a smaller Latigo, Cowhide combo.





I plan on really doing something with this one. Completely refinishing the leather on both, and seeing how nice I can make them. The Latigo honestly only needs a good sanding and maybe a little mink oil. The cowhide is really rough and dry and will need a little more work. Plan on making it my travel strop, so if I lose it I won't be heart broken. Again will post pictures as I progress.

Lol... Just noticed the " Will beat em all like certified checks"... Thats frick'n awesome!! .. Nice pieces.. I have a thick piece of cowhide that i purposely hang above the heat vent in my bathroom (probably get slack for this) that i like to vary the draw with oil rubs.. When it gets too much it will dry out with the heat... I like to use 600-800 grit sandpaper to give it a little texture as i find my razors sharpen better... Never had much luck with 2500 grit but that strop does not look nearly as nice as yours... Any idea what the crusty stuff might be on the other side?

I'm thinking it is dried paste, the inside also had red paste on it. But that came off with relative ease. It was the first wash so may look into soaking it, or maybe just washing it again. I used a hard bristled brush and kinda treated it like the canvas on my Kanayama, as far as washing it goes.

Nice find! Looks like it is in good shape. Those Russian strops are topnotch!

That Russian strop is a beauty. Any vintage strop with the "Certifyd" trademark is considered top of the line, generally.

I'm done with the majority of the cleaning and sanding of the leather. Cleaned up really nice, all major scratches are gone. IMHO the leather came out absolutely perfect, the only thing that i see as a flaw is a small dimple where it looks like something was dropped on it. But that won't affect the stropping performance in any way.



The linen component on the other hand is really nasty, after the first wash I let it dry then began to start working it out again. When I was pulling it over the corner of my coffee table I noticed a fine white dust collecting on the edge so I'm assuming there's still a bunch of paste in there. I mean I know it's a fools errand to think I can get all of the abrasive particles out, but I want to get all visible signs of it out. I have washed it again changing the water and detergent 4 times then rinsing with clean water 3 times. She is showing some signs of improvement, so I am just going to keep going with it. I am hell bent on salvaging what I am thinking is the vintage linen everyone talks about.

The key to cleaning an old linen strop is plenty of hot water and detergent and a good scrub brush and plenty of elbow grease.

Bigspendur how do I keep the linen from shrinking. I mean it's already shrunk so not sure I stretch it now, but even the canvas on my Kanayama shrunk and I followed his instructions to a T.

Update: after cleaning the strop very well and sanding I noticed small shiny spot in the corners of the stamp at the bottom. It used to be gold leafed. Being cheap enough I decided to buy 10 sheets of 24k gold, and am going to restore it. Figure take my time with the sizing and just go super slow and be stupid careful I am confident I can do this! And if I slip that's why we have sandpaper lol. Also this is where I bought the leaf from, https://www.goldenleafproducts.com/o...gold-leaf.html.

Keeping the fabric from shrinking seems impossible as getting rid of lots of filth.
Accepting this is best. I have had them shrink 1/2 inch or so in the process.
Not a big deal, I think.
Same for the gold in the letters.
I tried gold rubNbuff, but it went sour and turned green on the leather treated with mink oil.
Silver did much nicer. Again, I would recommend leaving it alone.
Seems we cannot replicate what they did at times. may as well accept it as-is? Looks nice to me! JMO

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The key to cleaning an old linen strop is plenty of hot water and detergent and a good scrub brush and plenty of elbow grease.

Oxiclean... the single most amazing product I have ever encountered.