Thread: Reviving a DD Satinedge Strop

So I've gotten some info from the forums but I just wanted to post my tentative procedure here and if anyone can point out any problems or make suggestions I'd appreciate it.

I got a DD Satinedge strop reasonably cheap and the leather is in great condition smoothness wide, but a little cupped/warped. The linen is kinda dirty but in great shape. The hanger is tarnished.

First- I'm gonna disassemble it.

The hanger I'm gonna steel wool then a quick dip in really strong HCl, followed by sandpaper up to 1k, and a Maas/CrO paste to finish.

The linen I'll throw in the wash, then apply a mix of climber's chalk, starch and water to, to hopefully replicate the old "new strop feel".

The leather I'm most worried about. Its shell and has that famous, great feeling surface treatment to it and I don't want to lose this. I have thought about this and was wondering would MWF hurt it? I was gonna lather it with MWF rub it in and glass bottle rub it to smooth the strop flat again, and then treat it with neat's foot, but if any of you leather workers have better ideas PLEASE let me know.

THANKS!

Karl the only two things I would do differently are washing the linen by hand in a mild detergent such as woolite and I would leave the hanger tarnished. I haven't tried the lather and bottle on the strop but I know that Neil Miller and honedright have posted about it and there is an archived thread that you're probably familiar with here.

Why leave the hanger tarnished? Just curious.
Also thanks for the heads up about woolite, duly noted I think my mom or GF has some somewhere I could use.

Thanks for that link yeah I had read it. I was thinking MWF because apparently the lanolin is good for our skin so I reasoned it might be a good leather conditioner. I would get saddle soap but I haven't a clue where I could get it, and buying online the shipping would make it not worth it.

Karl, you should be able to find saddlesoap at Walmart or any store that carries shoe polish. It should be pretty easy to find.

Originally Posted by khaos

Why leave the hanger tarnished? Just curious.

Is it a flat piece of metal or is it ornate and art deco looking ? If it is a flat piece I guess it would be easy to refinish. If it is one of those figured pieces with designs molded in it would be tough to sand and still have it come out looking right. I was visualizing an art deco hanger which many were back in those days. That is where I was coming from with leaving it as is.

Oh yeah I could see that. No its one of the boring flat ones. I've seen them brass but this appears to be either steel or nickel... but the tarnish isn't typical of any steel I'm familiar with and its not the greenish colour typical of nickel. But either way HCl is great at cutting oxidation. Sure it'll eat some metal too but I'm not too worried, just wanna remove the top layer so.

A lot of different oils are used in conditioning leather during tanning. In tanning, the natural oils are stripped away and ned to be replaced in a separate step called fatliquring. Although lanolin is used here, it is hardly ever used as on its own as a surface dressing post fatliquoring without having its greasiness modified by other additives, because it is an oil that loves to migrate to other surfaces, on its own it is hard to get it to go right into the leather and because it is so greasy.

Sometimes alcohol or kerosene is added to lanolin to get it to penetrate further into the leather. Mixing both lanolin and neats foot oil together gives a suitable conditioner, however, the relative humidity of the leather has to be at or around optimum - water bound into the leather actually helps transport the fats once the alcohol or kerosene has evaporated. Some homemade dressings are:

900gm kerosene/isopropyl alcohol
60gm neatsfoot oil (pure)
40gm lanolin

a less strong mixture is

950gm kerosene/isopropyl alcohol
30gm neatsfoot oil (pure)
20gm lanolin

The kerosene or alchol has to be warmed to get the lanolin to mix into it - it is a dangerous process so an electric hotplate and water bath are used instead of a naked flame. When the lanolin is dissolved the neatsfoot is added.

I have never used lanolin on its own, but we used to have a lot of trouble getting it out of wool samples - it goes everywhere: through the paper wrappings, onto the worksurfaces and onto your hands, where it feels unpleasantly greasy. It is, after oil, taken from the sebaceous glands of sheep.

A few people are also lanolin-sensitive - something else to watch out for! It gives rise to a kind of contact dermatitis.

Regards,
Neil

If the linen is really dirty I would hand wash it with some soap and use a good scrub brush. Just brush and soak, brush and soak.

As far as the leather goes I like the Bick line of products. Their leather cleaner is designed to be the same Ph as the leather. It goes on as a gel with no water used. After that a good leather conditioner or the usual oil treatments.

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

A lot of different oils are used in conditioning leather during tanning. In tanning, the natural oils are stripped away and ned to be replaced in a separate step called fatliquring. Although lanolin is used here, it is hardly ever used as on its own as a surface dressing post fatliquoring without having its greasiness modified by other additives, because it is an oil that loves to migrate to other surfaces, on its own it is hard to get it to go right into the leather and because it is so greasy.

Sometimes alcohol or kerosene is added to lanolin to get it to penetrate further into the leather. Mixing both lanolin and neats foot oil together gives a suitable conditioner, however, the relative humidity of the leather has to be at or around optimum - water bound into the leather actually helps transport the fats once the alcohol or kerosene has evaporated. Some homemade dressings are:

900gm kerosene/isopropyl alcohol
60gm neatsfoot oil (pure)
40gm lanolin

a less strong mixture is

950gm kerosene/isopropyl alcohol
30gm neatsfoot oil (pure)
20gm lanolin

The kerosene or alchol has to be warmed to get the lanolin to mix into it - it is a dangerous process so an electric hotplate and water bath are used instead of a naked flame. When the lanolin is dissolved the neatsfoot is added.

I have never used lanolin on its own, but we used to have a lot of trouble getting it out of wool samples - it goes everywhere: through the paper wrappings, onto the worksurfaces and onto your hands, where it feels unpleasantly greasy. It is, after oil, taken from the sebaceous glands of sheep.

A few people are also lanolin-sensitive - something else to watch out for! It gives rise to a kind of contact dermatitis.

Regards,
Neil

Very informative article, thanks.

If you have a vintage strop that looks like its just a little dry, could you just use neatsfoot oil and the beer bottle?