Thread: Unpasting pasteds

Has anyone been able to take a leather strop pasted with diamond paste and clean it out enough to use as a non-abrasive stropping surface?

I have a Tony Miller paddle that was pasted with 1 and .5 diamond pastes that I'd like to convert into a travel strop. I tried cleaning off the .5 paste with saddle soap and a toothbrush, but I'm not sure if it's clean enough for regular stropping.

If not I'll probably put some chromium oxide on it...

Thanks,
Josh

I don't know how it works with the diamond compounds, but at HandAmerican.com Keith talks about using Goop hand cleaner to remove pastes from leather. Goop contains lanolin I believe, so you get cleaned & conditioned in one step.

I really have my doubts because as you strop the pastes have particles which become thoroughly embedded in the strop and I don't see how you will ever get it all out. You might get all the loose stuff out and it may look clean but unless you really scour the surface I don't understand how you would remove it all. But then again I don't use pasted strops.

While I doubt you will ever get it all out I think the majority will be removed. I don't think I would worry that much about a little paste on a paddle used only for travel. It's not like you will use it every day all year so the small amount of abrasive is unlikely to make a huge difference.

Remember that in another thread everyone is talking about adding a fine abrasive to the linen side of their strops which will be used quite often.

Tony

I've got a leather Cr2O3 paddle that was originally pasted with 3 micron diamond. I used saddle soap and a toothbrush to get it out. After it dried I used it as a daily strop for a couple of weeks with no apparent effect on the blade. There was probably a little bit of diamond left over, but not enough to do anything. Any abrasive embedded deeply enough to resist the soap and scrubbing is also probably embedded deeply enough that it's no longer at the surface.

If your worried, after you remove as much surface stuff as you can, you can lather your strop up and then take a pumice stone and scrub the surface evenly. After this, take a damp towel and wipe the strop thoroughly all the time rinsing out the towel between wipings. continue until your satisfied its clean. Now allow your strop to dry thoroughly but not in direct sunlight( I pat mine dry with dry rags and then wrap it in a dry towel or hang it over the shower stall until its dry) then apply whatever dressing or leather conditioner you prefer and apply it in your usual fashion.