Thread: Reconditioning an old strop.

But I wonder after all that swelling, drying, ironing, will the strop retain the same smooth stropping surface acquired by any factory grinding/ prep, or user break-in. Or will it require starting from scratch? Or does the swelling of the fibers cause permanent deformation that, for purposes of razor stropping, ruins the strop?

I'd be careful and use the least invasive method for cleaning, such as applying lather then immediately scraping (as some barber texts recommend), or a quick wipe with rubbing alcohol since the alcohol and any moisture evaporate quickly.

Linen is a very tough fabric. It is one thing to wash your favorite linen suit in the washing machine and ruining it. It is something else entirely washing a piece of linen with the basic weave and consistency of a seat belt. If you think about it, your grandma's old linen table cloths can be pretty much boiled. It then takes forever to iron them afterwards, on high heat etc. but they can handle it.

Two of my linen strops are quite smooth and hard, a third is quite fluffy and soft. All of them have gone through the same washing machine, warm (in a modern front loader with added bleach).

You can sand lightly with a fine grit, 400-600 or so, once you are done if you don't like the final result.

Seat belts are good for one thing, razor strops another. I wouldn't treat either one of them the same. I'd be even more cautious with a fine vintage linen razor strop that may have survived decades intact.

Reminds me of an amateur coin collector who might stumble upon a rare old coin thinking it just needs a good cleaning. Ouch.

The means existed during the hey-day of barbering to soak a linen or canvas strop for cleaning. If that method were considered appropriate, I'd think it would have been mentioned in at least one standard barber text/ manual. Maybe someone can find a valid reference? If so, I'd consider the soak-wash method. Otherwise.....

Here is how i did mine.http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ditioning.html

Cleaning a straight razor in a dishwasher sounds like a good idea too, until you actually think about it.

Originally Posted by honedright

Cleaning a straight razor in a dishwasher sounds like a good idea too, until you actually think about it.

You guys don't do that?

Here's what I've done so far. I thought of the Resolve and didn't try it. Maybe I should of. I took some Tide Stain remover and scrubbed the strop with it with a little power scrubber my wife has for this purpose. Let it sit 5 min like it said to do. Then I washed it with some Tide detergent, some fabric softener, and some bleach. It didn't come out perfectly white, but it looks a lot better. Then I put it between folded paper towels and two 2x4's and clamped them till it was just snug. A couple of hours later I changed toe paper towels and let sit overnight. Took it out this morning and it was still damp a little, but it was flat. Looked like it did when it went in only a little cleaner and maybe not as stiff as it was. I'll inspect it closer tonight when I get home and decide if it's ready or it needs more work. I figure , if I screw it up, which I don't think I will, but I could always replace the linen strop with one from SRD. Anyway I'll let you know how it turns out.

Originally Posted by Guarnera

... and scrubbed the strop with it with a little power scrubber my wife has for this purpose. Let...

Your wife has a power scrubber dedicated to scrubbing strops? How many do you have?

Strops, not wives.

I've taken linens from old strops I've gotten off of the bay and washed them with Woolite in a bucket of cold water. Some that were lumpy and dirty. Air dried them flat, some with a telephone book or two (remember those?) to flatten the lumps out. So far with four or five under my belt, all good. YMMV.