I've picked up an original genuine 19mm Tropic strap. It's cleaned up quite well but it's gone very rigid.

It's wearable but I get the feeling it will snap if I bend it too much.

Do you think there is anything that can be done to save it? I was thinking soaking in vegetable oil or similar to soften it. Or is it beyond hope?

Any thoughts welcome.

Iain

I use a bottle of shoe leather treatment on old strap. Give it a good coating and allow to soak in for 24hrs. Then wipe and buff. For rubber, plastic or vinyl I use an automotive treatment. Same approach, coat,soak,wipe, buff.

Works well most times but if brittle, torn, cracked etc. the odds go down. Just as in life, there is no fountain of youth!

it has fallen victim to the oxygen in our atmosphere. Oxygen molecules react with the molecular bonds within the collagen structure of leather and cause microscopic cracks to form in the material. And, yes, once those cracks are formed, they will cause the material to fail much faster when it is flexed or stretched.

Hmmm...Vitamin E is recommended for dry, cracked skin and is an antioxidant. Maybe if you smeared the band with some vitamin E oil and let it sit for awhile, that would remove the oxygen from the collagen and allow it to "heal up" so that its flexibility would be restored. After the band has received this treatment, wash it off and let it dry thoroughly before seeing what the results are. IF it works, then it should flex easily. If not, then it's time to consider getting a newly minted band.

This is one of the reasons I always prefer a metal band whenever possible. They, literally, "wear like iron" because, being steel, they ARE mostly iron!

Good luck with your band...


technoguy

is recomended for leather. It may be what 'Mo' is using. Neatsfoot oil may be a little hard to find. I'd look in leather and/ or saddle shops. We use it in Oklahoma on about any leather. If you use it do not rush it. Let it have some time on the leather to work.

The suggestions. I perhaps should have been clearer that it is a Tropic rubber strap.

Almost no give in it.

I tried soaking it in WD40 last night then into hot water. It certainly softened up but by this morning had gone rigid again.

Guess its had it's time. It's still wearable, I just have to be careful.

Thanks

Ian

I've had a few rubber \ plastic type straps like that. They get nice and soft when soaked in hot water and soap to clean them up. But go all stiff when cooled down. Can't say I've found a solution yet. Other than I have to move to a warm tropical island to maintain the temp correctly so my watch bands last!

Do ya think the Mrs...will buy that line?

that you were talking about a rubber strap.

In this case, the strap's polymer molecules have engaged in a process called "cross linking". That is, rather than just being sort of wrapped around each other, the long chain molecules in it have actually formed chemical bonds along their lenghts with each other. When this happens, the material will loose its elasticity and stiffen up. When this process reaches a certain point, if the material is flexed suddenly, it can actually crack in two!

If you can figure out a way to break the cross linkages within strap's material, then if MIGHT restore its elasticity. You might try soaking the strap in very hot water for awhile. That will get its molecules vibrating rapidly and that might help break the cross linkages.

You must be careful about soaking the strap in any type of plasticizer solutions because they might make it swell up or even dissolve!


technoguy

COMMON METHOD FOR SOFTENING HARDENED RUBBER. GOOGLE IT.

you could also try auto brake fluid.

Will give that a try, thanks.