I went on vacation... and all I got was a moist strop

chief · 08-03-2008, 04:23 PM

and a tan....

So I just came back from Normandy (France) and we had some serious rainfall one night, resulting in the flooding of part of our tent. When cleaning up the mess, some wet piece of plastic accidentaly lay on my strop, and I didn't notice till the next day. Result: the leater got soaked and the linnen turned brown from the moist coming from the leather.
I let it dry with paper inbetween underneath a heavy flat object, hopefully it al turns out OK and is the damage only optical and not functional...

Kees · 08-03-2008, 04:30 PM

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I hope your razors are OK, they usually get irreparably damaged by overnight wetness.

Next time take a vegan (=plastic) strop from Tony Miller on holiday.

xChris · 08-03-2008, 05:39 PM

If the strop has removable hardware, you could probably wash the linen. After the leather dries, you may want to dress it with something to prevent the leather from deteriorating. Try contacting the maker for recommendations too.

Kees · 08-03-2008, 09:39 PM

I would use saddlesoap to clean the leather and I would put the leather dressing you usually use on the leather before it has completely dried. If you let it dry without treatment you might get cracks in the leather.

Tony Miller · 08-04-2008, 11:10 AM

Since the Latigo has been treated with waxes andf oils I would leave it alone or add a little Neats Foot Oil or Lexal at the most. I am not a fan of saddle soap, etc.... on my strops. I know some people use it but I have never tried it and have no idea if it would create issues down the road.

If you was the linen it will shrink...a lot! Do this at your own risk.

Tony

Kees · 08-04-2008, 11:45 AM

Hi Tony,

I am glad you corrected me here. I just was worried that the protective oils and waxes might have "leached" out of the leather as happens when you walk with leather shoes in meadow on a rainy day. I must admit I never tried saddle soap on my strops but on shoes it does a great job if followed by shining them with a genorous amount of shoe polish.

Would dry cleaning the linen be a good idea?

chief · 08-04-2008, 11:58 AM

I'll probably leave it this way then...
The linnen is only discoloured on the backside, so opticaly it doesn't do that much damage.

thanx!

Bruno · 08-04-2008, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Since the Latigo has been treated with waxes andf oils I would leave it alone or add a little Neats Foot Oil or Lexal at the most. I am not a fan of saddle soap, etc.... on my strops. I know some people use it but I have never tried it and have no idea if it would create issues down the road.

If you was the linen it will shrink...a lot! Do this at your own risk.

Tony

It was a 3" Honeybrown heirloom, not a latigo. I know because it used to be mine

I thought I'd mention, just in case the honeybrown is different.

EDIT: Sorry to hear that Chief, but glad you're still with us

For traveling purposes I use a Feather razor.
It's an acceptable compromise. The shave is not so nice imo, but there is no risk of water damage to any equipment. All you need is 1 fresh blade, and you can shave for weeks, while still using something that is at least straight razor shaped.

chief · 08-04-2008, 01:18 PM

yes, like Bruno said, it's the heirloom.

Bruno: I'm here to stay, I just don't always have the spare time to actually post stuff.

chief · 08-05-2008, 06:46 AM

well I tried using the strop yesterday, the part that got soaked lost all it's draw. And pulling the blade across does not have a good feeling to it at all. Seems like the surface is a bit warped.
I'll post some pics tonight.

chief · 08-05-2008, 05:56 PM

the victim:

Kees · 08-06-2008, 05:50 AM

That does not look too bad

chief · 08-06-2008, 06:45 AM

the linnen is fine, but the leather (the draw actually) feels like s*** when I strop on it.

Kees · 08-06-2008, 08:53 AM

I would rub some in some of the oil that Tony sent with it. Every time I oil my TM strop it increases draw.

chief · 08-06-2008, 11:33 AM

Is that special oil, or something I can get localy? Since I bought the strop second hand.

Any tips on making it perfectly flat again? (I'm doubting a bit on the flatness)

Kees · 08-06-2008, 12:53 PM

I haven'tseen neatsfoot oil here. In my experience a leather furniture dressing works just as well. You might ask Tony to send you a bottle.

To flatten your strop: use an iron at low temp.

BTW I have been corrected before by Tony in this thread so ask him first if he thinks this is a good idea. My strop has never come to any harm due to ironing.

PuFFaH · 08-09-2008, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Since the Latigo has been treated with waxes andf oils I would leave it alone or add a little Neats Foot Oil or Lexal at the most. I am not a fan of saddle soap, etc.... on my strops. I know some people use it but I have never tried it and have no idea if it would create issues down the road.

If you was the linen it will shrink...a lot! Do this at your own risk.

Tony

I don't know if my time using your strops is and bench mark Tony? I have always used saddle soap on my strops with only good results.

Chief
A good scrub with saddle soap will clean and even out the surface of the strop. Followed as kees suggested by a light application of dressing should solve the issue. I found the Honey brown to be a very malluable strop in regard to surface qualities. You can make it draw like horse or go right up to heavy oiled latigo. Great piece of leather.

PuFF