Breathing New Life into an Old Strop...

[Shangas]

I bought this online nearly two weeks ago. It finally arrived today. It's a sterling silver retractable strop from the 1920s.

The original leather was as gone as it was possible to be. Cut--up, torn, crusty as a fried cookie and utterly unusable.

I pulled it apart, took out the old leather, cut a new strip using the old strop as a guide, and restored it...

 

[Shangas]

And here's the AFTER shots.

New leather, new pull-tab, polished up the silver a bit...and it's back to full working order!

The hallmarks on the barrel date it to 1924.

 

[Ice-Man]

That is a fantastic restore a new lease of life....

 

[Toro Blanco]

Nice find and good job on the restoration! Came out looking nice.

 

[Shangas]

This is the first retractable strop I've ever seen in sterling silver. I've seen loads of them in silver-plate. So I'm thinking that this one must be at least fairly rare.

 

[SliceOfLife]

I always thought these were spring retract... Live and learn. Nice resto.

 

[Shangas]

They are. It's an old spring.

 

[Bevel]

As long as no one ever mistakes it for toilet paper.
Never saw a retractable strop before. Cool.

 

[Jakebullet]

What a great object. I’ve never seen one before, the silver adds a touch of class well done bringing it back, it’s too nice a thing, it deserves that rebirth. A great day to day strop and very suited to travel.

 

[JGKC9AYC]

Great job on this!

 

[KW Driver]

I almost bought a plated model of these, and it needed the strop replaced as well.

nicely done.