Fire Hose Linen

I came upon a length of old unlined fire hose in Iraq. I used hot soapy water, a stiff brush and elbow grease to clean it. When wet it gets stiff as a board. Once dry and worked a bit it softens right up. I used it for a couple years with really good results until I became interested in professionally made strops.

Chasmo

Nice score. Very cool. Congrats.

question here. To remove the rubber lining from a fire hose would boiling it work to get it to release ?

So, fire hose makes a good strop? If so, and there's someone out there who can put one together, I'll send you enough to make several if you'll make me one out of it.

caleb31 said:

question here. To remove the rubber lining from a fire hose would boiling it work to get it to release ?

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Not likely. Most hose is double jacketed to protect the rubber lining. The inner jacket is usually adhered to the rubber lining, so your best bet would be to just peel the outer jacket off.

oakeshott said:

Looks like blood on the hose, Gamma. Exactly how did you "acquire" it?

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I don't think it's blood, could be but it seems like some other kind of stain to me. Not sure. Sorry- can't reveal my sources. Lol.

Brianskeet said:

Nice find! Unlined I am betting that is an old old hose! I bet the washing is the devil! You may be up against a hundred years worth of accumulated dirt!

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Washing it was a pita. The hose is dated - 1960. So not all that old - only 54 yr

rickboone1 said:

Good stuff man!!

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Indeed! ty.

DavidFS said:

I'm in the coast guard, and out hoses have an inner hose that is bonded to the rubber, plus an outer hose that is super snug, but if you cut a section just a few feet long you can separate them, and that looks a lot like what the op has acquired to me. The coast guard uses the old house as chafing gear to protect tow lines though...

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This was unlined - I cut the fittings off and all there was is one layer - no lining, rubber, etc.

ncfyrfyter said:

So, fire hose makes a good strop? If so, and there's someone out there who can put one together, I'll send you enough to make several if you'll make me one out of it.

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Don't know if they all do but this one sure as heck does. I haven't figured out how to hang it yet though, It's pretty thick stuff.

ncfyrfyter said:

Not likely. Most hose is double jacketed to protect the rubber lining. The inner jacket is usually adhered to the rubber lining, so your best bet would be to just peel the outer jacket off.

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Seems the older hoses were, often, unlined like this one.

Gamma said:

Seems the older hoses were, often, unlined like this one.

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This is a true statement. If it is an unlined hose, the jacket material is more than likely cotton. Newer hoses are nylon, and some of those have Kevlar woven into them as well.

Interesting - this one is flax/linen. It's printed on the hose.

Gamma said:

Interesting - this one is flax/linen. It's printed on the hose.

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Possible it could be something that was used in the time period between the cotton and synthetic periods. If it's a 1960's hose, it pre-dates me by about 25 years as I didn't start in the fire service until the late 80's. I've seen a lot of changes in materials used in my tenure, so there is no telling what has been used. Do you think that the synthetic or cotton material would make a good strop? If so, I'm sure that I could get my hands on some!

This is one piece I'd love to use for a strop - needs another round or two of soaking/cleaning. Got some Simple Green to see how that works next.
This is after one soak in the sink with Dawn - then a round in the washing machine with Oxy Clean. I'm hoping the SG will whiten it without fading the lettering too much. Takes a good amount of work to clean the stuff up - I have another length that I ironed flat after the cleaning and it's real nice stuff. I do need to figure out how to get a D ring on it.. or something. Clamping it to the bench is not a permanent solution, but it works for now.
About the other hose materials - I think the only way to know is to try it out. This experiment of mine was a lark - I saw some hose, asked to see the labeling - and voila... a big smelly box of hose is all mine. lol. I cut two pieces for friends to try out - I'll get their feedback to see if it matches mine.

TSP man.

It's on the list. Might get to home depot this week.

Or some Mexican Ariel detergent, it still has TSP in it.

Does it smell like Salter's Vetiver?

ouch said:

Does it smell like Salter's Vetiver?

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I read those reviews, yours included - made me laugh.

The hose has a bit of a rusty/mildewey thing that goes away with a good cleaning or two.

Dice it up! I have hole punches & riveting kits for Aluminum and stainless, as well as plastic. Also have eyelet kits. I think I have some barrel screws too. How thick is it?

Doubled over it's pretty thick. That's the next measurement I'm going to try and figure out.
Someone here was kind enough to offer me d-rings made to order.. this hose is kinda wide, 3-5/16". So his generosity is a godsend.
I 'hemmed' up one end tonight. I can't sew for beans but it had to be done. The weave is circular so it'll just keep unraveling after it's cut.
Once I get a D-ring - I'll fit one on somehow - either sew it or chicago screws. Then - I"ll cut the length and to size, and hem the other end.

Meanwhile - the piece above with the writing is soaking in simple green.

Since it will be difficult to fold it over to sew and will be very thick, you could sew the D-ring inside the hose. This would also allow for a narrower smaller D-ring and could have a clean finished look. Maybe super-glue the edge of the cut strop to stop the fraying. Maybe even punch clean holes and lace with leather.

It folds easy, the question will be how thick is it when doubled over (4 layers) and then to decide on Chicago screws or sewing it. I 'think' I have Chicago screws that will work - but I have to check. When the D-Rings arrive I'll do that. Right now there's like 5 projects going and a Damascus razor that's giving me fits. Gotta focus, one thing at a time. Lol. Right.

Sewing the fitting into the hose might work - But I think the big D-rings being sent are going to do the trick, they'll support the fabric edge to edge. I'll consider putting a snapswivel on it but I usually just use a rip tie for stuff like this though.
I used super glue to seal the end of a linen hanger a few months ago - almost looked like the glue was going to set the fabric on fire.

The piece with the writing on it in the photo above - I soaked it in Simple Green/Water Mix (50/50) for 24 hr - and then it went into the washing machine with the SG mix and some Oxy Clean. I let that soak for an hour and finished the cycle. It still smells a bit like SG so I'm going to give it another very long soak in hot water with detergent and that should do it. SG really soaked out a LOT of grunge - was pretty amazed since the hose was cleaned once already.

I'll get some TSP for the next cleaning test.

A very cool B&B member sent me a few homespun D-rings to fit the hose.
So - after I figured out a few things (still have a few more to figure out) - here's my first hose-strop.
The Frankenstein stitching is all my own doing. I can't sew for beans but I figured I'd give it a spin.
Now that it's both clean and hanging normally - I can get a real read on whether or not all this work was worth it.

I sent a couple of pieces out to some friends, one got lost enroute (thank you USPS) but the other arrived safely.
Hopefully - I'll get their feedback soon. I'll use this one here for a week or so with one razor and report back.
Tell you something - stropping on this is really cool. It has some 'give' in the weave, but it's also really dense. It's wild.



Just for fun - and to test the efficacy of different stitches, I also made a little bench top version.