i was on my way home from dropping off daughter number one at camp, and i happened to stop in at a local antique mall i have gone to once or twice, normally they dont have much i want, but today was very different.
im looking around and what do i happen to see, a shumate strop, with both strops intact, and in very decent shape. curses why cant i be atleast semi rich
How much were they asking?
the were asking 45.00
If it was in good shape, I would drop the cash in a heartbeat! Finding good strops in useable condition is harder than finding the ever-elusive Escher.
YMMV of course.
if i had the money i would have also, and the fact that it was a shumate DEFINATELY didnt hurt, when i have the money im going back, i just hope its still there
Ask if the antique mall has a layaway program. I do believe most are 10% down holds it. Then pay it off in 3 months. YMMV.
If I bumped into a gem like that I would be asking.
Just a thought worth asking. :shrug:
He doesn't take credit cards?
i didnt have the cash onhand to do a layaway, and i dont use credit cards, they get me into to much trouble, so i dont have any.
I'm proud of you for holding off if money's tight. It's tough to do, and these days most don't try very hard. Hopefully it will be there for you when you can afford it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joke1176
And that aint no joke!
well if it is there this weekend, it will be in my posession by saturday afternoon. will have strop porn to show you by that evening
I think it will still be there . There aren't a lot of people out there looking for old razor strops . There are some , but not a lot . And the seller might let it go for less than the asking price .
well, i now have it in my possession, i did find one knick in the edge on the finishing leather, but other than that, its in fine shape, i brought it home and saddlesoaped it up, gonna take it to a saddle shop and have the stitching on the top, and im good to go, i have pics i will load in a little while, dont want to mess up my wifes frontierville on facebook, that is going in another tab currently
as promised here are the pics, there are 7 of them
That is a mighty sweet looking strop! :tu I noticed one side/strop had "sharpen" on it and looks textured. Any chance it's loaded with paste? Might want to check that out first, although, I haven't the faintest idea how to do that.
When you get to addressing the nick let us know what youQuote:
Originally Posted by wvloony
decide to do. I have a new to me used Scotch Shell strop that
has a smaller nick in about the same exact place and have been looking for
some cleaner and flexible leather cement to fix it. I may just sand
it off but it is beautiful leather so I am being deliberate in deciding.
yep i know that feeling, having no cash to spare, i just keep checking for bargains on ebay, not the best place for strop buying but i did manage to make 4 out of cheep leather from an English supplier that do the job just fine so far :)
good luck !
ian
It would be VERY cool to bring that baby back to life. I like that big metal Shumate emblem on the top.
Nice find !:rock:
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.
________________________________________________
[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? ]
_________________________________________
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...............:)
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsell63
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..! :)