Thread: Red Imp strop refurbishment

This is direct from the purchasing portion of their website. It could be read that it has no wax or that it is a wax. The english is a little shoddy.

"Bick 4 accomplishes four important jobs. It conditions, cleans, polishes, and acts as a stain repellant, making it ideal for keeping leather soft while preventing the leather from drying and cracking. It is effective on all smooth, finshed leathers, including exotics. Unlike other brands, Bick 4 is a wax and silicone-free product that will not seal pores of leather thereby affecting breath-ability. Bick 4 will not darken any colorcast leather or deteriorate the stitching.

Bick 4 leaves no oily residue and is safe to use on leather boots, shoes, bags, purses, jackets, saddles, belts, furniture, and exotic skins. "

Even then, I'm still curious on how you feel the effect is on draw If you've used it and like it, that's good enough for it's usability for me, whether it is a wax or not.

Love the self ad on the strop, "Will Beat'em All". Nice touch!

Originally Posted by dinnermint

This is direct from the purchasing portion of their website. It could be read that it has no wax or that it is a wax. The english is a little shoddy.

"Bick 4 accomplishes four important jobs. It conditions, cleans, polishes, and acts as a stain repellant, making it ideal for keeping leather soft while preventing the leather from drying and cracking. It is effective on all smooth, finshed leathers, including exotics. Unlike other brands, Bick 4 is a wax and silicone-free product that will not seal pores of leather thereby affecting breath-ability. Bick 4 will not darken any colorcast leather or deteriorate the stitching.

Bick 4 leaves no oily residue and is safe to use on leather boots, shoes, bags, purses, jackets, saddles, belts, furniture, and exotic skins. "

Even then, I'm still curious on how you feel the effect is on draw If you've used it and like it, that's good enough for it's usability for me, whether it is a wax or not.

O.K.,,, I just read the part you quote & I understand it to be "Wax and silicone free" as wax would clog the pores. There is no wax in Bick 4.

I have used it on a few strops that I made myself, as the leather was old & I thought it needed to be nourished. No ill effects that I have noticed. I am by no means a strop expert & I can only tell the difference in "draw" with my Neil Miller & William Barber strops, but these are top-end strops. They have yet to need any kind of care , other than hand rubbing.

I can't help you with "draw" ,sorry.

Originally Posted by hrfdez

Love the self ad on the strop, "Will Beat'em All". Nice touch!

"Like a certifyd check!" I didn't see it in the add and it made me want to get the strop in order more.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

O.K.,,, I just read the part you quote & I understand it to be "Wax and silicone free" as wax would clog the pores. There is no wax in Bick 4.

I have used it on a few strops that I made myself, as the leather was old & I thought it needed to be nourished. No ill effects that I have noticed. I am by no means a strop expert & I can only tell the difference in "draw" with my Neil Miller & William Barber strops, but these are top-end strops. They have yet to need any kind of care , other than hand rubbing.

I can't help you with "draw" ,sorry.

Ah, that makes sense. I have yet to talk with the leather restorer in town, so I'll ask them their thoughts on it as well. I'm hoping that they have seen some seriously mangled stuff and/or willing to part with some scraps on the cheap.

I have one of those strops which I got NOS. It is a very dark red color. Once the linen is properly cleaned it should have a grey tone to it not pure white.

Saddle Soap should be avoided. The stuff was developed for very thick and tough leathers like...saddles and really tough boots. It will dry out and remove the color and vital stuff in most leather when used over and over. I know many here love the stuff but it is what it is.

Bick is great stuff both the cleaner and and conditioner. If you want the bees knees in leather care get some leatherique. If anything can turn a worn stop into something looking new it's that product. The bad news is its super expensive like $100 for the kit but it can be used for all leather.

I have come to the conclusion that the linen is good to go. It appears that my soaking process has caused the green to bleed through a little to the clean side, so perfectly white is out of the question anyways. It is theoretically possible that the pasted media has permeated to the other side, but is probably so minute to not be an issue. Does your strop have any black angled stripes on the stamped side of the linen? Mine has some that could be some severe hand juice, the stamped side of the leather is quite dark from someone's hand as well.

Alrightie, so I could pair the saddle soap with some oil to counteract the drying and then have to live with subsequent reduction in coloring? The back of the strop looks really nice, just a slightly damp papertowel to wipe off some white dust that accumulated onto the back. The front is dang near black as night.

Hmmmm, so I could get the "rejuvenator" and "prestine" clean in 16oz for $42. Cheaper, but still pricy, however it will probably last me at least a few decades if it lasts that long. I don't have any issues with spending that much, but have never heard of them and am hesitant about anything that doesn't have a bunch of pages in the search results in here. It appears that the leather restoration place is pretty dedicated to couches and the like...No products that have descriptions as nice as leatherique. I have yet to actually talk to them, but my hopes aren't exactly high.

The GOOP didn't really help with the condition of the leather, it could be drying out the leather, but it was so dirty to begin with that it is difficult to determine. It is cleaner and not as much gunk on it. However, there is still some not insignificant crud on there (especially where one holds the strop) and I don't really want to continue with the GOOP.