Tony,
Take the "learner" strop, cut out the best part, 10" to 12" long and glue it to a piece of MDF, warp free wood, etc...then use paste on it. At 24" x 2 1/2" you could get 2 nice pasted strops from it. It is a fairly stiff surface leather even though thicker than I woiuld normally use on a paddle so should noty deflect under the weight of a razor.
I know many worry that leather will deform and roll an edge on a paddle setup but I think that is more a concern with sueded leathers. The napp on those may well round an edge where a smooth finish leather will stay firm unless the stropper is heavy handed.
I use sueded leather on the first paddles I sold 2 years ago and found them less desirable to use than those today.
Tony
Tony