Thread: Reconditioning an old strop.

Forgive them Moler (A.B.), for they know not what they do...

"He was a good 'ole strop. Shame he had to go that way."

Originally Posted by honedright

Forgive them Moler (A.B.), for they know not what they do...

"He was a good 'ole strop. Shame he had to go that way."

What did he do that he deserved to be water boarded?

The intention was well meant. Supposed to be a full immersion baptism. Turned out a drowning by sudz.... Such a shame.

I use woolite like Jimmy does, but I do it differently, mix a little woolite with water or use it full strength, use a toothbrush, fingernail brush or something similar to brush the soap mixture in and scrub spots. Use a dry terry towel to blot dry and remove soapy water, hang it and let it air dry for a couple of days.

The oldest known record of strop cleaning is chiseled into a stone in a field somewhere in Scotland and it says," take the linen down to the river and soak in a place where the water rushes with power between to stones. Then beat the linen against the biggest rock in the sun until dry. "

I went through all that only to find out simple green, soap, detergent, a scrub brush, and lay it flat to dry works just fine. And I don't have to put my waders on to do it. I learned that from Big Spendur after getting all wet for 3 days, I finally listened.

As for the leather, everybody has their own recipe including me but basically clean, sand out any nicks/cuts, rubber cement any flaps, oil/preserve it.

By the time you get all that done, your new one will be there. :<0)

I do have a new one on the way. It's an SRD Premium one. But I like the one I'm restoring also. It's like bringing something old back to life, and giving it a second chance. Besides, where could I get a Clydesdale Sell Strop for $40.00 today?

I've done a few, and have used some of the methods mentioned here. They all work. The carpet cleaning method works great. I was really surprised how nice and clean and soft the linen came out. I would most definitely do it again. YMMV.

I'm back! Well after using the Tide stain remover, and then washing in Tide, with bleach and fabric softener, the strop was a lot cleaner, but still bad black dirt marks on it. So I then bought some Woolite Carpet stain remover. That made it even cleaner, but it still had some spots on it that looked like little puddles with dirt in them that had dried, but it wasn't, just looked that way. So now I took some Oxyclean gel stain remover, and worked that in with the little power rotary brush I used for the Tide, after I washed it. I then let the strop sit for about 15 min. and then I washed it in Tide, bleach, and fabric softener again. This time it came out spotless. It's been hanging to dry. Felt it this morning and it felt pretty dry, so maybe I'll put it back together tonight. Won't be able to use it for a while. The wife just bought me a SRD Premium One strop, and if she see's me using something else, my goose is cooked.I want to use the SRD for a while anyway to see how I like it, and then I'll have something to compare the shell strop to. I really like the SRD so far. It's such a big step up from the Philly that I was using.

i just got a pearlduck strop. i gave it some dovo strop dressing and i just rubbed the dirt off the linen with a moist cloth soaked in forever new(the ol lady uses it for her expensive brassieres) the linen was quite soiled and is now , well clean as i want to get it without distubing any integrity it may have . the wrinkles went away too as an added bonus with minimal wetting. gotta work on the leather a bit still, minimal bumps im trying to rub out with the hand as i learned from the forums but i may have to be a touch more aggressive. hope not to have to use the pumice