Thread: Red Imp strop refurbishment

I recently acquired an older red imp, pictures to follow tomorrow. I soaked the linen in dawn soap and water and scrubbed with a toothbrush. It hasn't exactly removed all of the staining, but did remove alot of gunk. The leather portion was wiped off with damp paper towels then rubbed with GOOP several times. When I did this , coloring that appeared to be dye but hasn't degraded the strops coloring so far. I'm wondering if the used shoe polish on it? Am I ruining the leather? It seems less dried out, but does smell funny. Will have to pick up some oxycleaner for the linen...

If it were mine, I would avoid the shoe polish,,,as the "color" of the leather, is not important as is the texture; which will be affected by shoe polish.

If you want to clean the linen of the strop, here is a thread to read.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...p-project.html

Oh yea, not going to use shoe polish, but how red the gunk was that I was removing makes me think that someone polished the heck out of it. The pictures from the ebay were impossibly red, the actual strop is pretty dark. The leather is a little stiff and kinda dull, even after the GOOP. I may take it to a leather restoration place down the street from me, who knows maybe I'll be able to get some scrap bits from them. I am partially concerned about how clean the leather can get, I'd rather not barbisol my blades after every stropping. Especially since the leather portion doesn't smell like roses... Here are pics of the leather portion so far.

EDIT: These pictures are after about 4-6 cleanings with the goop and the amount of coloring is drastically reduced. The wad of paper towel is from the second cleaning, a bunch of the dye/polish or whatever it is...











When I washed the linen portion, it was pretty gunky and I got the crud off of the surface. It isn't completely white, I may have been able to do a better job with BIZ, which I will probably try. However, the linen seems to have come pasted with a green compound and quite heavily. Can kinda see where it bled through the linen. Probably never going to get it out, but that is not the end of the world.

Unfortunately in my gungho-ness to get this puppy cleaned, I forgot the before pics. Pictures of the linen will be forthcoming, it's drying quite slowly at the moment.

I have a Double Duck vintage strop. I scrubbed it with saddle soap several times until I was happy.
As for the red, it could be shoe polish but my first guess would be leather dye. It's not uncommon for the dye to leach out of leather when it gets wet. Another possibility is ferrous oxide strop past which is rust colored.
Can't imagine why anyone would use shoe polish on a strop except to hide defects for a sale.
The nick are more of a bother. If they are deep you can glue them back together with contact cement and even out with a pumice stone.
Good luck

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Yeah, I was thinking of going the saddle soap route, but the goop was cheaper and came highly recommended. It doesn't seem to be hydrating the leather well, unless it just needs more or I'm not applying enough.

Goop with lanolin might work. Seems counterintuitive for a grease remover to impart oil. I've never tried it.
Neats foot oil works well. Apply it sparingly, it only has to be conditioned enough to not crack, not as oily as a well broke in pair of shoes. A bit stiff is probably best as long as it stays flat.

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The saddle soap is mainly a cleaner, it does nourish the leather to a certain degree.

I use Bickmore "Bick 4" for all my good leather. It costs a bit & may have to be onlined ordered, but worth it & a bottle will last a long time. If there is a western/saddle store near you, they may sell it.

The BIZ process is a "3" day soak, not an overnight deal,, put a little more BIZ in the container at the beginning of the 3rd day.

Oh, that stuff sounds wonderful. It states that it is a wax, how do you feel that affects draw on leather?

Maybe you saw a different product, Bick 4 is not a wax,,, read it again just now & it states "polish" among its attributes ,,, remember polish is not "wax", even though the two words are often used as though they are the same.