Thread: Linen Strop Cleaning and Reconditioning

Originally Posted by 10Pups

When I took the brass off it had green paste under it on the leather side.

The green paste like under the brass is "Vert de gris" its a green pigment that is formed naturally when brass is weathered and exposed to air over a period of time. Same for copper and bronze thats why the Statue of Liberty Looks green.

I had lumps/bumps come up on my hard felt strop and it was recommended here that I use an iron with the steam on to swell the felt and then iron it with the steam off on the iron. It worked and when I finally got around to washing it and let it dry like the canvas it did so with no lumps/bumps either.

I did clean the leather on my old strop several times with saddle soap and the rubbed some neats foot oil into it. I was lucky that there were no nick or cuts in the leather on that 2 inch strop. The green paste that you found under the brass fittings may just be verdigris which is formed by a chemical reaction between the leather and brass. I have used crazy glue for strop repair and then gone over the joint with my wife's pumice stone to smooth it out.

All we used to do with canvas covered fire hose was to let it dry after use then roll it up again for storage.

Bob

Originally Posted by Martin103

The green paste like under the brass is "Vert de gris" its a green pigment that is formed naturally when brass is weathered and exposed to air over a period of time. Same for copper and bronze thats why the Statue of Liberty Looks green.

Except that doesn't come off with your finger and feel like wax in your hand like this does. I could roll it in a ball and it smelt like ummmmm strop paste ? or Vert de gris eh ? I seen a lot of leather and brass together but nothing gooey like this. I have been around horses about 35 years and my saddle is older than most of the razors around here. But, I still learn stuff.

Originally Posted by 10Pups

Except that doesn't come off with your finger and feel like wax in your hand like this does. I could roll it in a ball and it smelt like ummmmm strop paste ? or Vert de gris eh ? I seen a lot of leather and brass together but nothing gooey like this. I have been around horses about 35 years and my saddle is older than most of the razors around here. But, I still learn stuff.

So the previous owner used paste on the strop? like CroX!

Oh another thing. I had a can of saddle soap I used on boots before I got horses and lots of tack. I was told to throw it away and I used this stuff called Turf Soap (which I bought by the gallon) until they stopped making it. As I recall saddle soap has a wax in it and is not the best thing to use on fine leather. Not sure how it would affect stropping but imagine it would make it sticky to some minor degree. Once again this could be an old cowboys tale but you could google it maybe and find out for sure.

Originally Posted by Martin103

So the previous owner used paste on the strop? like CroX!

It looks that way, yes. It was all tan and dry looking and I could see like scratches in the leather as I wiped. I couldn't figure out what the heck ??? As it came clean it got better and slick as a babies bottom after I gave it a test burnish.

Couldn't tell by me that using saddle soap makes the strop a bit sticky. The old strop I used it on is , I think, shell cordovan and it is slick no stick for sure. It is very different that the bridle leather strop I have. Yea, it could just as easily be some kind of stropping paste on yours, you never know what people did to their leather strops.

Bob

Well I have never had any strop pastes and like you say could be Turtle wax for all I know. It's off now though. To be honset I am not sure exactly what a great strop should feel like. I have 2 types of latigo and several other pieces of leather besides the horse hide I bought. Smooth and slick to soft and supple. The red latigo I have feels the best to me but best for what LOL. Oh well, I got the horse for this one so I should stick to my plan. Put it together with the old linen,use and start another plan. I should just buy the best one I can find but jeeesh that goes against my DIY and learn on the way instincts.

Linen is still cloth and they makes clothes out of it. I wash mine in the washing machine. But as to your strop I'd still use soap and water and a scrub brush.

Why did I doubt ? Okay it turns out BigS is right on the money here. I proceeded with caution because I hate destroying anything vintage. But here is my story. I started out soaking it over night in woolight, It didn't do doodly squat. Went to soaking it in a mixture of Wisk/Oxy something/ and color bleach another night. (I kept imagining Big S looking over my shoulder shaking his head thinking "I told you so" ) This got it much cleaner but I still had patches of some gook. I used a small brass brush and went over the patches and that helped. The Simple Green and a bristle hand brush with some elbow grease got it very clean. I rinsed the heck out of it and lay it flat on the garage floor under flood lights to dry it some. It's not as white as I want it but I am done.

What I learned. Mom knows linen but it is the kind that is made into table cloths and doilies. The bumps and folds can be avoided by the way it is dried. If it drys flat it will remain flat. I went back to mine as it was drying and rubbed out the bumps. Don't doubt the old guys that have been there done that :<0)