Thread: Cleaning an Antique Linen Strop

Hi All!

I just acquired a very old stop from a barber for $20. It's pretty plain Jane with no company logos, no brass connections and a very simple swivel connection etc. The barber said he didn't remember if the leather was cow, pig or horse. He then showed me the strop that he was currently using. It had the horse head at the top, but he himself pointed out that the stop he was selling me was a much better and heavier duty strop! The linen on the stop he was keeping was only about a 1/16 of an inch thick since it was only a single layer and fraying, while the one he was selling me is a little over 1/8 in thick because it has two layer and the edges were sound. The same is true about the leather! The leather on the one that I purchased is a little over 3/16" thick. Before the barber gave me the strop, he applied lather over the leather, rubbed it in, then used a straight razor to gently scrape the lather off. He said that it would help keep it from cracking.

When I got the stop home, I used a little rubbing alcohol to remove some of the 'Grime" at the end where you would hold it, it seems to have cleaned up quite a bit.

My question is this: Should the linen be cleaned in order to refresh the surface? The linen feels like it has some kind of wax or some kind of 'Build-up' on it. Since the linen is supposed to sharpen the blade and the leather polish the blade, I would think that there would be tiny particles of metal in the linen that should be removed.

Please let me know your thought on this!
Thanks!
RAD