saw this today at a local antique mall, curses i havent the money

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Originally Posted by mrsell63

As far as reconditioning wvloony's Shumate strop, he says he has saddle soaped it and I guess that is step 1 in the process. I think sanding with progressively finer grits would bring the leather surface up to par.

I started thefollowing thread on 6/22. It concerns a strop stone that was used many years ago to condition the strop surface.
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[Strop-Stone ???
While reading about str8 shaving in the old days, I came across what is referred to a "Strop-Stone".

This was a stone used to dress a strop, canvas as well as leather.

I checked the WIKI but couldn't find any reference for a Strop-Stone.

There is an example of an advertisement for one of these stones in "THE STANDARD GUIDE TO RAZORS, third edition.

Does anyone actually have one of these strop-stones? How about a photo? ]
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Again, I think that strop can be returned to useable condition with the right amount of TLC. Good Luck Mr. Loony and I'm sure that's not your correct name. Full speed ahead on the strop...............:)

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I think I read another of your posts about sanding strops with sandpaper and I tried it recently. Works really really well. I use 220, then 600, then 1500 since I don't have much on hand, but the finish after that progression is very smooth.
I would definitely recommend trying that with the "Finish" side of this strop. That is after you fix the nick.

Thanks heirkb

Please wrap your sandpaper around an appropriately sized block of wood, hence sanding block, the longer the block, the better. A 6 to 8 inch long block seems to work best for me. A piece of 2x4 will easily cover the width of most all strops.

I have salvaged two strops using sanding blocks. As a result, I would not hesitate to buy an old, ugly looking strop. With a little sanding, a beast has a chance to become a beauty................. :)

Photo is forthcoming. Sorry I goofed it the first time

By the way, here is a photo of about half of my strops. The two long strips are English Bridle which was tanned in the USA. One of those silky soft strips ended up in the dangerous hands of the famous Missouri Honemeister, Sham the Man. I hope he is getting some use out of it.

I think it's fun to experiment with different pieces of leather. The more I play with leather, the more I think "plain" leather is the best friend we have. CrOx and CeOx and maybe Dovo black paste work but that's about it in my opinion...........:soapbox:

ok, i got it back this morning and sanded it with 400,600,1000,1500,2000 grit and then some neatsfeet oil. the metal plate in the top got a serious work out with rubbing polish, and replaced, and this is how it looks now. the third picture is just to show what that plate looked like before i started. mrsell, it didnt turn out to look as pretty as yours do, but i also figured that if i were as old as it probably is, i would deserve to look a little rough also. i actually hope i look that good when i get to that age.

Nice job! It looks good, and its great to use something that has all that history attached to it..! :)