I stopped by an antique shop while on vacation and found this strop priced at $15. After talking with the owner of the shop I was able to talk him down to $10. It looks to be in good shape, however I really know nothing about strops so. Does anyone know anything about this strop?
I recall Lakeside barber hones having a decent rep on some of the boards. I'd suspect that the strop would be of similar quality, and comparable to other makers of the period. Can the hangar hardware be removed? The canvas looks a bit filthy, but can be washed. I think RayG talked about a cleaning method he uses for old linen/canvas. Woolite maybe as an option? The leather can be reconditioned, and it looks to be in a fairly good state already (no serious cuts/nicks or fold lines). Shaving lather can be used to clean off some of the grime, or even a cleaner like "Goop." The you can use a leather conditioner, like neatsfoot oil, to restore the suppleness. Glass jars have been used to smooth out, or burnish, the leather for a better finish/draw. For $10, that's a pretty good deal.
Ah, now I can see that. Well that makes the cleaning and restoring a little easier, since it's the same steps twice.
I know some who have used very fine grit sandpaper to remove the junk then neetsfoot oil after that. About 600 grit.
We use saddlesoap to clean it and neatsfoot oil to conditoion it. Seems to work well for us. The saddlesoap you can get at any dept store in with the shoe polishes.
Saddlesoap does well I just cleaned and conditioned my four sided strop with it and it removed all the junk and left it clean and ready for more diamond paste.