Thread: Flea Market Find: a 1 dollar special strop

Hello all, and specially to strop experts here...

I recently found an old strop in a flea market, and I want to know a bit about it's age and quality. It is old, it is somewhat dry, but it seems in a relative good shape.

Here are some recent images of it.

Here is the finish side:



Close up of the buckle:



Close-up of the handle that reads "Our 1⁰⁰ dollar Special"



The Sharpen side, with its engraved dot pattern:



The Sharpen side buckle:



And the Sharpen side handle, that reads "Multi-dot Very Dot-a-hone"



I'm guessing it could be from the 1930's (or even earlier), am I wrong ? I have searched as much as I could, but I ended with no satisfying result, so I'm turning over to you, strop experts and historians, to feed me with some precise information about it. I hope someone up here will be able to identify this thing...

And I want to thank you in advance for the trouble you are going to give yourself answering to my questions...

i have an old robeson strop that looks a lot like that, i had a guess of a 1950's era for it's age. it you want to try restoring it neetsfoot oil should work just remember that the sharpen side most likely was originally pasted so you should take care so as not to "cross-contaminate" the plain side but by now it too probably is but when supple and dry should work very nicely. the thin piece of leather that holds the hardware though is prone to tearing if you pull the strop too hard.

jim