Thread: vintage Illinois strop has fold in leather

So I recently bought an Illinois 126 Clydesdale strop from ebay. The linen portion was in rough shape but after researching the topic I soaked it in a tub of water, woolite, and a little bleach. After soaking a couple hours I scrubbed softly with a brush. After repeating several times I hand dried it and wrapped it in a towel with several large hardback books on top of it so it dried flat. It turned out even better than I would've thought. The leather part of the strop looked as though it had been folded in half and stored that way. After a trip to my local western wear store I picked up a foaming saddle soap product to clean the strop and neatsfoot oil. After treating the strop I again laid it flat and put heavy books where the fold was. It became much more supple but there is still a fold in the leather. It's not much of a fold but I can feel it with my razor a little bit. Should I be worried about it? I've only stripped twice on it and have noticed nothing bad yet.. is there anything else I can do? I don't want to over apply my neets foot oil. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Richard

When I had the same kind of issue, I used five pound plates to flatten the strop folds. That seemed to work fine.

Did u treat the leather prior to applying weight or did u just put the weights on and let it sit a long time?

I use lather to treat my strops, and I have had fine results with it. Most on this forum are against using lather on strops, or any treatment at all other than "palm rubbing". If I were going to apply weight to a strop to straighten out a fold, I would lather it first, but that's only one of many opinions you'll receive here.

Lather it well than take a heavy wine bottle and run it up and down the strop using pressure for about 10 mins,has always worked for me.

If it was folded for a long time and the flesh has stretched and the nap behind it has deteriorated, you may be fighting a losing battle. Try stretching it just a little before you apply the weight.