Thread: Vintage Linen: Thoughts...

Yes just palin ole chalk I found to spray the linen then rub the chalk worked best...

So is the chalk supposed to be abrasive? I have never heard of applying chalk to the strap, so thats why I ask...

I believe it is similiar to using the dovo white.

If i remember correctly, the dovo white is chalk mixed with something something....

Originally Posted by sapito318

So is the chalk supposed to be abrasive? I have never heard of applying chalk to the strap, so thats why I ask...

I have a dozen or more vintage strops/linens. The old linens remind me of firehose material. They are double thick compared to a Tony Miller linen and if you get a new old stock one they are quite stiff. Those with more use are supple IME.

Looking at a NOS FW Engels and a C-Mon Deluxe there appears to be a plastic embedded or maybe coating would be more accurate to describe it on the linen. Both linens appear identical although they are labeled Fine Weave Linen Finish one also says FW Engels and the other Peter J Michaels.

I wouldn't be surprised if they came from the same factory with different labels. My Red Imp linen has been used a lot since I bought it nearly NOS. It now has black streaks on it that were not there when I first began to use it. I've got a couple of vintage linens that have the residue of the red paste on them as well for whatever that is worth. If Tony Miller or Lynn gets into the thread I am sure they could add a lot. Both have a lot of experience with vintage strops and linens.

Jimmy.

I found repeated applications of tabac lather really softened up my "firehose" strop.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I have a dozen or more vintage strops/linens. The old linens remind me of firehose material. They are double thick compared to a Tony Miller linen and if you get a new old stock one they are quite stiff. Those with more use are supple IME.

Looking at a NOS FW Engels and a C-Mon Deluxe there appears to be a plastic embedded or maybe coating would be more accurate to describe it on the linen. Both linens appear identical although they are labeled Fine Weave Linen Finish one also says FW Engels and the other Peter J Michaels.

I wouldn't be surprised if they came from the same factory with different labels. My Red Imp linen has been used a lot since I bought it nearly NOS. It now has black streaks on it that were not there when I first began to use it. I've got a couple of vintage linens that have the residue of the red paste on them as well for whatever that is worth. If Tony Miller or Lynn gets into the thread I am sure they could add a lot. Both have a lot of experience with vintage strops and linens.

I don't know what the Illinois strop was treated with but I do know what you mean. I have a linen strop attached to a C_Mon leather strop and it is more rigid that the other vintage cloth strops I have.

A couple of the cloth strops I have were extremely..., well ugly. We ran them through the washer and hung them to dry. This caused some ripples or waves in the cloth. I took a bar of Ivory soap and rubbed it into the cloth and then rubbed it in further with the side of a smooth glass bottle. Stiffened the strop right up and took out all of the waves. The first few used of the soap rubbed cloth created a small dust storm but after that I really liked the results.

Thanks for the responses guys! I actually went to my NOS Hess and NOS Red Imps and checked and they are both hoses.... interesting. I wonder how someone could even sew like that there is no seam anywhere. I wonder if one could even buy that somewhere.

BTW Jimmy I am ever jealous of your collection. I think I have Strop Lust Disorder. (its not an acquisition disorder yet cus strops are two expensive for me to acquire willy nilly) That Red Imp sure is fine but I only bring it out on special occasions because I'm scared I'll ruin it. My daily strop is the Paladin cus though its as nice and even cost more, its easily replaceable.

Which brings me full circle. I don't like using NOS stuff that clearly wears out as you use it because well, its not made anymore. Razors are fine because steel is more permanent than leather and linen, if cared for...

Wow great thread! This is the info I am looking for too! I recently googled strop preparations and strop dressing and I forget what else, but ran into a lot of old patent information for strop dressings and strop designs, many of which focused on abrasive qualities. It stands to reason that they (like us) wanted to try a bunch of different things that might be abrasive enough to polish, finish and maintain a sharp edge without being too agressivly abrasive that they quickly round over and wear down the edge.

Neat idea about the starch and chalk. (but if you wiki chalk you'll se that there are all kinds of different options for chemical makeups of chalk...)

As for the linen hose... I think that they probably just used what was already being manufactured, which is maybe very similar to what is currently being manufactured and sold as "percolating lay flat canvas fire hose" ... Fire hose can come rubber lined and synthetic and all kinds of fancy ways but it can also come as plain jane canvas hose (called "percolating" 'cause it weeps when its full of water, cause its just woven canvas) used primarily in the forestry industry. So, I'm thinking, 1 inch effective diameter hose, laying flat, should be about the right width... maybe starch it up and iron it, maybe some chalk...hmmm... time to go scrounging to find some old hose to play with!!!

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Yes just palin ole chalk I found to spray the linen then rub the chalk worked best...

Okay... I need to condense the issue again into one slightly different way of asking the same thing... (gsixgun..stop hitting your head against the wall, we're just trying to get it right! )))...

If you do a few passes on a linen/canvas strop dressed with starch/chalk before stropping on leather do you find it sufficiently abrasive to allow you go for months with your razor before having to go back to Cr3O2 or the hones?

I scored about 40' of vintage real linen 2 1/2" wide seamless unlined actual firehose about two weeks ago. It needs to be cleaned and I'm doing that on a 2' long test section now.

What amazes me about the linen is that once it's immersed in water, it stiffens like a board in less than 30 seconds. What starts out as almost slinky in its flexibility turns into something that you can hold at one end and it's straight as an arrow. I don't think cotton hose would do the same thing that rigidly and that quickly.

Chris L