Thread: Linen Strop Cleaning and Reconditioning

My mom said that her mom said to only use naptha soap for cleaning the old irish linens, so I assume that would be a good choice to use on strop linen. The problem is, nobody makes it any more Fels Naptha no longer contains any naptha!

But if you look around, you can find vintage soap to clean your vintage strops. I found 4 bars of vintage naptha soap in a local antique shop. I dont know if it works any better or worse than the carpet cleaner, but it sure did work!

It's cloth so some washer detergent and a good stiff brush and some elbow grease is what you need.

Funny thing.. I just happen to get an old strop in the mail today. It needs a lot of work but the linen thing has me stumped even after reading all this. I wish BigSpendur's answer was the case but my Mother say's " Crap, that's real linen ? I wouldn't just wash it. Take it to the dry cleaners and ask them if they would or how they would." It seems linen has this funny thing about shrinking. It will shrink in some spots and more than other places. Hence the bumps. I am wondering if after you got it ironed flat if steam from the bathroom or any kind of moisture in the air would make it go bumpy again. If the dry cleaner can't help I am thinking of turn mine inside out. Very much a challenge but I bet it could be done. The leather on mine may be repairable but I have a brand new piece of horse hide and was going to replace the old one with it anyway. Is why I bought the thing in the first place. Here it is in my hand now. Will report back later with what all I did and what happened.

Originally Posted by 10Pups

Funny thing.. I just happen to get an old strop in the mail today. It needs a lot of work but the linen thing has me stumped even after reading all this. I wish BigSpendur's answer was the case but my Mother say's " Crap, that's real linen ? I wouldn't just wash it. Take it to the dry cleaners and ask them if they would or how they would." It seems linen has this funny thing about shrinking. It will shrink in some spots and more than other places. Hence the bumps. I am wondering if after you got it ironed flat if steam from the bathroom or any kind of moisture in the air would make it go bumpy again. If the dry cleaner can't help I am thinking of turn mine inside out. Very much a challenge but I bet it could be done. The leather on mine may be repairable but I have a brand new piece of horse hide and was going to replace the old one with it anyway. Is why I bought the thing in the first place. Here it is in my hand now. Will report back later with what all I did and what happened.

Yes just like mine, after cleaning i really ironed it really well and its holding fine.

I just got an old strop with what I take is canvas, it looked like flattened fire hose. On that basis just scrubbed it with a nylon brush and some Simple Green cleaner several times. Rolled it up in a towel and squeezed it then hung it to air dry. No lumps or bumps. Man the crud that came out of that thing was amazing.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

I just got an old strop with what I take is canvas, it looked like flattened fire hose. On that basis just scrubbed it with a nylon brush and some Simple Green cleaner several times. Rolled it up in a towel and squeezed it then hung it to air dry. No lumps or bumps. Man the crud that came out of that thing was amazing.

Bob

I just went over the leather on mine with Liquid Glyceren and yep paste all over it. It had several gashes in it that I fixed with rubber cement and held together with a clamp for awhile. Not sure if I like the leather part enough to use it yet. When I took the brass off it had green paste under it on the leather side. You made my brain kick in here. Maybe BigSpendur is right. I am not sure what this material really is after all. Hmmmmmm I like the no bumps with your method. I hate ironing :<0) .

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 thebigspendur

It's cloth so some washer detergent and a good stiff brush and some elbow grease is what you need.

It is not cotton cloth its Linen totally different.