Thread: Linen Strop Cleaning and Reconditioning

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