Roma Strops
- Thread starter antdad
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A British company, they made a lot of different types, ranging from basic to best. They had good quality heavy-duty cotton in a tubular weave (the same type I use) as the second component and nice contoured handles. Some are still quite usable today. Here are a few pics of a really good one that I once had - it had never been used:
It doesn't take too much effort to bring an old strop back to a servicable condition - it it hasn't been sliced up or wrinkled too much!
Regards,
Neil
It doesn't take too much effort to bring an old strop back to a servicable condition - it it hasn't been sliced up or wrinkled too much!
Regards,
Neil
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Not guilty! I sold it about 18 months ago - maybe longer. Nice to see that it is still doing the rounds, though!
Regards,
Neil.
Regards,
Neil.
) but thought it would be cool to have two :?
OP
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Arrived today. The leather(calf) looks unused but the linen has seen plenty of action with stropping paste. There is a crease in the middle because it was stored in a folded position but otherwise not too bad. What's recommended to get this strop back into shape?
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Well, I´m sure Neil has some good tips. But i would use german leather fat, that´s what I use for leather who needs to come back to life. Then, after the leather has sucked everything up (if needed aply leather fat twice, let it suck for a couple of hours and wipe remaining fat off with a cloth) prob. some kind of yellow abrasive paste. BUT I´m sure Neil will have better advice.
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I usually use a glycerin-rich saddle soap - wet the leather and thouroughly apply the soap using a brush if you have to - this cleans the leather as well. Mop it dry and leave flat on an absorbent surface (eg rolled up towel) to dry - you might want to weight it down. When it has dried, buff it a bit and check the draw - saddle soap has a little neatsfoot oil in it - if not enough put a bit of oil on a cloth and rub it in quickly and evenly - don't saturate the leather. Let it get absobed, preferably overnight, and check the draw again.
The leather fat sounds interesting - maybe it is tallow - the same fat used in dovo yellow paste?
Regards,
Neil
The leather fat sounds interesting - maybe it is tallow - the same fat used in dovo yellow paste?
Regards,
Neil
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Leather Fat is used for saddles, boots and leather german army equipment - it was actually issued to wehrmacht soldiers in WW2. It contains (among other things) vaseline, beeswax and carnauba wax (aka palm wax - nearly always blended with beeswax and turps when used in leather applications). Never used it myself - looks interesting though. They do a black version that looks a bit like dubbin, too.
Regards,
Neil
Regards,
Neil
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Ha ha, "interesting". I bought it from one of the most serious leahter shops in Sweden (very very expensive leather products, even though the leather fat was cheap), but they know dick about strops and straights though. So I´ve used it on different leather products and think it´s working very good if you have some old leather gear that you need to bring back to life (I had a leather jacket that had been haning in the wardrobe for 15 + yrs and it work out good). I´ve used it on a cracked strop once and I think it worked fine, but the leather wasn´t of that good quality from the beginning. So as said: better listen to Neil!!