I have received a couple vintage strops where the linen piece has some sort of coating over the whole thing. The best way to describe it would be to say it looks like it was dipped in a waxy substance but it doesn't feel like wax. I don't know exactly how to describe it. I tried taking a couple pics to show what I'm talking about but don't know if they will help any. Would anyone know what is all over the linen on some old strops. This one is a C-MON 414 the linen looks to be the linen that came with the strop and the coating is under the silver leaf so I know it wasn't done after someone got the strop.
Vintage strop question
- Thread starter Suhrim21
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I think that it is a filled strop dressing, possibly containing chalk, that polymerizes.
I have a vintage Red Imp with a linen like that. Its how it was sold and you can just go ahead and use it.
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- #4
What is the purpose of the substance over the linen?
I honestly don't know.
It does not seem to be abrasive in any way but rather just a coating. It does not impede stropping in any way and doesn't seem to degrade the way you think it would - flake, shed etc.
The Imp coloring is blue.
It does not seem to be abrasive in any way but rather just a coating. It does not impede stropping in any way and doesn't seem to degrade the way you think it would - flake, shed etc.
The Imp coloring is blue.
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- #6
It just seems to make the linen stiff. I'm mostly curious if it might be like a diamond paste or something similar.
De rigueur for vintage strops. Many had a wax-like coating on the linen.
It seems to have two main functions - keeping the linen from cupping during stropping and preserving the edge, because it imparts some of it's wax to the steel protecting it, seemingly, from corrosion during shaving.
My very first strop - a "Medal of Award" strop bought new at a barber and beauty supply house in the early 1980's had this type of linen.
The strop I'm using now has that as well. Seems to work great for the purposes I speculated.
In the end all that knowledge is probably lost as most folks that made them are gone. Hopefully someone will come across an old manual or something that explains these things and post their findings.
Chris
It seems to have two main functions - keeping the linen from cupping during stropping and preserving the edge, because it imparts some of it's wax to the steel protecting it, seemingly, from corrosion during shaving.
My very first strop - a "Medal of Award" strop bought new at a barber and beauty supply house in the early 1980's had this type of linen.
The strop I'm using now has that as well. Seems to work great for the purposes I speculated.
In the end all that knowledge is probably lost as most folks that made them are gone. Hopefully someone will come across an old manual or something that explains these things and post their findings.
Chris
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- #8
Had several like that. Don't like them. Stiff brush and scrubbing it with soap several times is the only way to get it out for some. They will soften up, but you'll feel like an old-timey wash woman working on a washboard.
Some were sold like that, but barbers also did put all kinds of crazy stuff on strops (usually linen, sometimes leather) to create effects like it. I've seen beeswax products marketed to be applied to linen strops. There's an old barbers guide that said to rub your linen strop on a rusty iron pipe to charge it with Ferric Oxide (for that pasted edge feel), or soak it in urine because... well frankly some people have this weird obsession with making urine functionally valuable.
Some were sold like that, but barbers also did put all kinds of crazy stuff on strops (usually linen, sometimes leather) to create effects like it. I've seen beeswax products marketed to be applied to linen strops. There's an old barbers guide that said to rub your linen strop on a rusty iron pipe to charge it with Ferric Oxide (for that pasted edge feel), or soak it in urine because... well frankly some people have this weird obsession with making urine functionally valuable.
This makes sense. It could be a type of wax (firm though) and does wear away over time. It does not make the linen any less effective so why remove it? It was put there for a reason.
It was recommended to rub on a lead pipe actually. I'd rather it be on a rusty pipe though - lead on a straight edge can't be good.
I'll never understand the urine for breaking a strop in either.
Essay on barbers' razors, razor hones, razor strops and razor honing .. (Page 18, 19)
Ahh, so it was. Yeah, they loved their lead, eh. Makes me wonder if it's actually a miracle treatment that makes strops work much better and was only stopped when they realized it was potentially poisoning people.
I know a couple of people who swear by it. I think they're nuts.
It must have some abrasive qualities to it. They rubbed until the linen was fully black.... Crazy
Abrasive qualities are pretty common among metal oxides, chrome oxide, iron oxide, aluminum oxide, and a lot of metals form oxides rapidly when exposed to the atmosphere.
Does lead oxidize?
I've never seen a rusty fishing weight (old weight)
I've never seen a rusty fishing weight (old weight)
Here are a couple vintage linens. One of them has a heavy coating like it has been varnished. It is also darkened, hope it's not lead. The other one is soft and supple but it has also burnished through use and the natural oils in linen have started to leave a coating. It doesn't show up in the photo very well but it is there.
The old lead that I have found left to the elements (bullets) forms a white crusty coating. Maybe coming from minerals in the soil?
I thought lead itself was inert. Stayed the same over time.
Lead would also make the strop black as put in the book linked. If it were iron oxide or other metal oxide I would think it would be red in nature.
Lead would also make the strop black as put in the book linked. If it were iron oxide or other metal oxide I would think it would be red in nature.
Ya, it is more red and seems to be from the off side. They might have charged that off side with a rusty pipe. Part of a married piece with a red imp leather and real plane hardware that turned out to be home made and pretty well fashioned from an old Hills Bros coffee can.
It forms a tarnish (oxide) rapidly in air. That grey color of lead is tarnish. Like many metals, the oxide 'skin' protects the underlying metal from oxidation. I think that the lead charged strops turn black.
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