Any hope for this strop?

[hig789]

I have a old strop I got in a big lot of razors and stones. The bad thing is that's it's pretty well soaked in some kind of oil. Other than that the leather looks pretty decent as far as no nicks, cuts or cracking. Any way to remove the oil?

 

[hig789]

I can get some pics up later today if need be.

 

[Alejandro Salemandro]

Well, you can't ruin it at this point. How about some mild soap and warm water? The soap should pull some of the surface oil out.

 

[BSAGuy]

Pics and +1 for this.

Well, you can't run it st this point. How about some mild soap and warm water? The soap should pull some of the surface oil out.

 

[hig789]

Well here's some pics. Evidently it's not soaked in oil because there is no oily smell anymore. I guess it absorbed the smell from the oil stones in the box. Not really sure what kind of leather it is.

The up close picture is of the back side of the strop.

One side is plain leather, the other has paste on it. The pasted side is in great shape but the leather side does have a few nicks in the edges. Any way to remove the paste? Sand it down I assume.

I'd like to save this strop just because I like the vintage aspect and I like the fact that it has no handles.

 

[alpster]

I would start with some soapy water and a plastic scrub brush. Rub it as dry as you can with a terry towel, let it dry 24 hours and use a sanding block with some fine sand paper. There is likely a great strop down there somewhere.

 

[Obiwan]

I'd say some fine sandpaper and some saddle soap. What do you have to lose? I was shocked at how well it worked on a 60+ year old neglected strop I found in a family member's house.

 

[rockviper]

If it is of any help, here are my adventures in strop revitalization (still ongoing, I might add).

 

[hig789]

I sanded it down little last night with some 600 and 1k. Then wiped it with a wet towel really well and then dried it off. Tried it out a little bit after that and it worked great. It's very soft with a light draw.

Scott and I have come to the conclusion that it's hog leather. Anyone else ever used a hog strop?

 

[Avenolpey]

From the writings of Kousuki Iwasaki:

Removing Oil from Strops.
[Warning! The following section seems, to me, to be a bit on the dangerous side. I can’t recommend it, and if you do decide to try this, for Pete’s sake be careful!--JDR]
(1) Pour a cider-bottle full of gasoline into a wash-basin. [I have no real idea how big a cider bottle was in 1966, but I’m assuming 500ml or even 330ml, as beer bottles would have been 750ml.--JDR] Remove the metal components from your strop and submerge it in the gasoline, soaking it thoroughly. About 5 minutes should be sufficient. If you suddenly have to leave, and hang the gasoline-soaked strop in the open to dry, it will wrinkle and deform as it dries, so if you have to stop in the middle store the strop in water. Gasoline is highly flammable so be careful of fire.
(2)Fill a washbasin with soapy water the temperature of a hot bath. Take the gasoline-soaked strop from the last step and place it in the washbasin, and knead it from the edges inward, like you’re washing clothes. The water will quickly dirty and turn gray. When that happens, empty the basin and refill with hot, soapy water. Repeat this about 10 times. Each time should take about 5 minutes, so altogether this should take about an hour.
(3)Fill the basin with clean hot water and place the strop in it. Gently knead the strop and rinse away the soap. Two repetitions of this should suffice.
(4)Lay the wet strop flat on a board. As it dries, it will shrink and buckle like when you dry kelp. To prevent this, take a beer bottle and roll/press the face of the strop, and it should stretch out easily.
(5)When the strop has been stretched out, it will tend to ripple or curve a little, so take two boards and press the strop between them. Gently tap along these boards and the strop will straighten out nicely.

 

[BDF]

I never saw that before but funny enough, I have done that same thing with good success in removing excess oil / wax / grease from strops. Gasoline is a great solvent and does not seem to damage the leather in the least. Of course it is flammable but used with a bit of sanity I do not believe it is 'instant death in a jug' or anything. I have not actually soaked the leather in gasoline but instead wiped them down with a cloth that was saturated with it. I did not use the soap and water rinse either- I found the gasoline simply evaporates out of the leather after a while (several days).

It does take a while to get the gasoline smell out of the leather though- a few days of drying. I would leave it outside during that time both for safety reasons as well as wife happiness reasons, if you are married.

Brian

From the writings of Kousuki Iwasaki:

<snip>

 

[hig789]

From the writings of Kousuki Iwasaki:

Removing Oil from Strops.
[Warning! The following section seems, to me, to be a bit on the dangerous side. I can’t recommend it, and if you do decide to try this, for Pete’s sake be careful!--JDR]
(1) Pour a cider-bottle full of gasoline into a wash-basin. [I have no real idea how big a cider bottle was in 1966, but I’m assuming 500ml or even 330ml, as beer bottles would have been 750ml.--JDR] Remove the metal components from your strop and submerge it in the gasoline, soaking it thoroughly. About 5 minutes should be sufficient. If you suddenly have to leave, and hang the gasoline-soaked strop in the open to dry, it will wrinkle and deform as it dries, so if you have to stop in the middle store the strop in water. Gasoline is highly flammable so be careful of fire.
(2)Fill a washbasin with soapy water the temperature of a hot bath. Take the gasoline-soaked strop from the last step and place it in the washbasin, and knead it from the edges inward, like you’re washing clothes. The water will quickly dirty and turn gray. When that happens, empty the basin and refill with hot, soapy water. Repeat this about 10 times. Each time should take about 5 minutes, so altogether this should take about an hour.
(3)Fill the basin with clean hot water and place the strop in it. Gently knead the strop and rinse away the soap. Two repetitions of this should suffice.
(4)Lay the wet strop flat on a board. As it dries, it will shrink and buckle like when you dry kelp. To prevent this, take a beer bottle and roll/press the face of the strop, and it should stretch out easily.
(5)When the strop has been stretched out, it will tend to ripple or curve a little, so take two boards and press the strop between them. Gently tap along these boards and the strop will straighten out nicely.

Thanks for this but it turns out it wasn't soaked in oil like I thought it was. I thought it was because it was so soft and pliable. Never had leather like this before. And I guess it just absorbed the oil smell from a stone in the box with it.