Thread: Ant vintage strop experts here?

I came across this strop recently and was wondering if anyone could give me any information on it and also if it is a good, decent, or poor value.

Might be worth the effort to recondition it for use as the leather is horse shell. If you have a new strop made today you will pay a premium to get horse shell leather.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

Might be worth the effort to recondition it for use as the leather is horse shell. If you have a new strop made today you will pay a premium to get horse shell leather.

Bob

I guess I could find information somewhere here on the forums on how to recondition?
It does have one bad place about 6" from the bottom. I don't know if that affects anything or not.

I have carefully super glue the cuts closed and sanded smooth. Be sure not to use too much glue and get squeeze out. First coat both surfaces of cut with glue and let dry. Add small amount of glue and close cut. Leave something heavy over area until dry. Finish with sanding smooth with high grit 1000-2000 grit.

Originally Posted by JGKC9AYC

I guess I could find information somewhere here on the forums on how to recondition?
It does have one bad place about 6" from the bottom. I don't know if that affects anything or not.

You could use the forum search box upper right corner and look for "strop repair/Strop cleaning". Cuts and nicks in the leather make it difficult to repair and put back into use. If that is a bad cut right through in the edge of the leather you could always shorten the strop by 6 inches.

Bob

Contact cement and medium ca work good but a little different. Contact cement because of it's flexibility is a good choice but it is a little more visible. With ca less is more if you know whar I mean.

I'd have to see pictures of the overall surface area, but if the cut intrudes too much and gluing doesn't work, you could always cut the strop down and make a paddle strop out of it.

As an exercise or learning experience it may be worth the effort, but it is not a rare or quality strop and has been severely neglected.

It may never be a strop capable of producing a quality edge. Once dirt and grit are imbedded in the leather you may have to remove the top surface of the leather to remove the grit.

There are tons of vintage strops, many in much better condition that are easily restorable and will produce quality edges.

Remember stropping is the final polish to an edge to make it pristine before you put it to your face. A single piece of grit can damage that edge, reversing your progress, in place of enhancing it.

If you decide to glue the cut, you can also sew it after gluing, a handful of stitches will not affect the polishing ability of the leather. Especially if you carefully punch holes, groove the stich lines, and hammer the stiches down.

There are many posts on hydrating leather strops and reconditioning them and the linen as well. The key to reconditioning leather is to go slowly, it can take months to re-hydrate, then restore a strop.

I often purchase strops like yours for a couple dollars, for the hardware, and use the linen and leather to make paddle strops for tools and knives were a pristine edge is not critical.

An old axiom here about razor restoration applies here, Restoration begins at Purchase.

My experience with vintage barber strops has been a gamble. Some look great in photos but the leather can be so dry that it can tear up like cardboard. I had a vintage Kanayama pelican strop that tore in half.

At one time in history industrial machines were run via leather belts hooked onto a central power source. Most of these belting companies were located in the Northeast and it was natural for these outfits to sell strops too. Page was one of the big ones making a variety of grades. Yours was one of the higher ones.