Strop Restoration Tips and Tricks

[Rusty Blade]

I am at the point where I want to try restoring an old strop. I have found a couple of strops at antique stores and I have been reading whatever I can find on how to restore. There have been some great restoration projects posted in this forum. I watched the Razor Emporium Youtube video on how to restore a strop, but I am left with some questions (great video by the way).

I thought it would be a good idea to consolidate all the great advice from others on B&B in one thread that brings together all the tips and tricks of the strop restoration game. So post your answers or post your questions and remember, pictures are worth a thousand words.

Let me start off with a few questions:
1. how do you do home restoration of the hardware on a strop? (I don't know how to re-plate metal)
2. what grits of sandpaper (and type of sandpaper) do you use?
3. do you use saddle soap as a way to clean and condition the leather?
4. what type of oils or polish do you use to finish the leather?
5. how do you wash and condition the linen strop (if yours came with one)?
6. How do you assess your stop in the antique store...before you buy it? (What do you look for in a possible restoration project?)
7. How do you preserve or restore the gold lettering on strops?
8. Are there some absolute do's and don'ts?

I have many more questions but let's start with those. I look forward to your answers and other questions you may have.

 

[ajduplessis]

2. Wet dry 800-1000 sandpaper
3. use neatfoot oil, never used saddle soap even thou it work well
cant comment on the rest
4. neatfoot

 

[Rusty Blade]

2. Wet dry 800-1000 sandpaper
3. use neatfoot oil, never used saddle soap even thou it work well
cant comment on the rest
4. neatfoot

What is it about saddle soap that would not work with a strop? The strop I found that I want to restore is not very clean and if it was an old handbag would benefit from a clean up with saddle soap. I agree, neatsfoot oil is all I ever use on my strops. Wonderful stuff.

 

[ajduplessis]

I did no say saddle soap will not work, I said never used it....

 

[Rusty Blade]

I did no say saddle soap will not work, I said never used it....

Okay. Any particular reason?

 

[timwcic]

I have only restored two strops, so I have limited experience. I do not buy strops that are not in excellent condition for there age, like buying straights, I will pass on 50 before I buy one. Saddle soap is a good choice if it need a good cleaning. It will start putting fats back in the leather. I sand to only remove cuts and scrapes. I use the least aggressive grit to start and level out but finish at 1000 for a smooth surface. I found brown leather changes to a lighter color as I sanded but returned to Orginal color is a moved up grit. I only have used Neetsfoot oil to finish off

 

[ajduplessis]

Okay. Any particular reason?

I have no dirty strops...

 

[Rusty Blade]

I have only restored two strops, so I have limited experience. I do not buy strops that are not in excellent condition for there age, like buying straights, I will pass on 50 before I buy one. Saddle soap is a good choice if it need a good cleaning. It will start putting fats back in the leather. I sand to only remove cuts and scrapes. I use the least aggressive grit to start and level out but finish at 1000 for a smooth surface. I found brown leather changes to a lighter color as I sanded but returned to Orginal color is a moved up grit. I only have used Neetsfoot oil to finish off

I agree. I have found dozens of strops in antique stores and most are in poor condition. I have purchased 3 and those were in excellent condition. And when I say excellent condition I mean they don't need major restoration, but rather some TLC to bring them back to useful life.

 

[Rusty Blade]

And so it begins. Some time ago I picked up a leather strop in an antique store for $20. It was comprised of 2 leather strops. One in good condition and one in not so good condition. Today I took it apart and discovered it was a hybrid of two different strops. No linen. And it turns out the one good side was reversed and it is a Kwik Edge #26. I decided to discard the not so good piece of leather. It had a gash that rendered it useless.
I started by sanding the surface with 800 and then 1000 wet/dry sandpaper to even the surface and remove some superficial nicks and abrasions. Then I cleaned the leather with saddle soap and it cleaned up very nicely. The embossed lettering showed up nicely. I then started hand cleaning the hardware with a brass toothbrush, steel wool and 800 and 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I finished off with some Flix metal polish. It cleaned up nice and there is still some patina that I think looks nice. Here are some pics:

I will post a pic of the strop tomorrow after it has completely dried and after I apply some neatsfoot oil. So far so good.

 

[Rusty Blade]

Here is the strop with one coat of neatsfoot oil, with hardware. It will need another coat. That will likely even out the coloration.

As with all first time projects I have learned a few things. This strop was quite laden with oil before I did anything with it. I think with another similar strop I would wash it with saddle soap a few times and let it dry for a day or more between washes. I washed it twice in succession. I am not sure there was any more I would have done with the hardware. I have no power tools, so a grinding wheel set up with some fancy do-dads and polishes may have produced better results. Though I like the patina that remains on this piece.

 

[Dullasdishwater]

A question about grit: am I correct in saying that the numbers cited on this thread are an American standard? 800 - 1000 would be the equivalent of a very fine sandpaper?

 

[Jnatcat]

If I find a strop that can be revived I will gently wash with saddle soap multiple times and evaluate after each wash and dry, if using sandpaper ensure all grit is removed so it’s best to do the sanding prior to the saddle soap wash, then after I’m happy with the cleaning process I only using neutral Venetian shoe cream as it’s what recommended by Horween for any and all leather and I apply this using my palm as I can control how much goes into the leather and less is better so I will put 6-8 drops in my palm them rub my hands together then rub the strop like I’m warming the leather and I do this over a period of a few weeks to give the leather time to yield the results of the cream as once it’s in the leather you can’t take it out so best to go slow

 

[stone and strop]

If I find a strop that can be revived I will gently wash with saddle soap multiple times and evaluate after each wash and dry, if using sandpaper ensure all grit is removed so it’s best to do the sanding prior to the saddle soap wash, then after I’m happy with the cleaning process I only using neutral Venetian shoe cream as it’s what recommended by Horween for any and all leather and I apply this using my palm as I can control how much goes into the leather and less is better so I will put 6-8 drops in my palm them rub my hands together then rub the strop like I’m warming the leather and I do this over a period of a few weeks to give the leather time to yield the results of the cream as once it’s in the leather you can’t take it out so best to go slow

Do you have a link?

 

[Jnatcat]

Do you have a link?

Venetian Cream

It can be found for less on Amazon and EBay

 

[Rusty Blade]

A question about grit: am I correct in saying that the numbers cited on this thread are an American standard? 800 - 1000 would be the equivalent of a very fine sandpaper?

Yes 800 to 1000 is very fine. And make sure its wet/dry.

 

[Mlee]

I am at the point where I want to try restoring an old strop. I have found a couple of strops at antique stores and I have been reading whatever I can find on how to restore. There have been some great restoration projects posted in this forum. I watched the Razor Emporium Youtube video on how to restore a strop, but I am left with some questions (great video by the way).

I thought it would be a good idea to consolidate all the great advice from others on B&B in one thread that brings together all the tips and tricks of the strop restoration game. So post your answers or post your questions and remember, pictures are worth a thousand words.

Let me start off with a few questions:
1. how do you do home restoration of the hardware on a strop? (I don't know how to re-plate metal)
2. what grits of sandpaper (and type of sandpaper) do you use?
3. do you use saddle soap as a way to clean and condition the leather?
4. what type of oils or polish do you use to finish the leather?
5. how do you wash and condition the linen strop (if yours came with one)?
6. How do you assess your stop in the antique store...before you buy it? (What do you look for in a possible restoration project?)
7. How do you preserve or restore the gold lettering on strops?
8. Are there some absolute do's and don'ts?

I have many more questions but let's start with those. I look forward to your answers and other questions you may have.

Great timing. I've also picked up a few old Stropes at flea markets that I want to restore. I'm sure I'll be back with some questions.

To answer #1, I've seen some hardware painted black. I have one that has a lot of rust so if it won't clean up, I'll probably sand it down and paint it.

 

[Rusty Blade]

Great timing. I've also picked up a few old Stropes at flea markets that I want to restore. I'm sure I'll be back with some questions.

To answer #1, I've seen some hardware painted black. I have one that has a lot of rust so if it won't clean up, I'll probably sand it down and paint it.

Often the rust is superficial. It might not look great, but they usually clean up easily. Start by soaking it in some hot soapy water for an hour. Use Dawn soap. Then start with steel wool, then get a brass toothbrush (the kind you use to clean guns) and then follow-up with 800 and 1000 grit wet dry sandpaper. I think you will be surprised how well the clean up. It might not be perfect, but I think it's nice for the metal to show a bit of patina.

 

[Suhrim21]

I have a strop I was going to restore the leafing on. I was going to get a gold leaf kit on Amazon and use that to restore the leaf. They have a nice one that is imitation gold leaf that has silver gold rose gold and red. That has all the colors I need to do my satinedge strop.

 

[HippieDave]

Yes 800 to 1000 is very fine. And make sure its wet/dry.

Is this because wet/dry paper is better or do you wet the strop and/or paper before sanding?

 

[Dullasdishwater]

Yes 800 to 1000 is very fine. And make sure its wet/dry.

Thank you.