Thread: Have I destroyed this strop?

I bought a beautiful 4"x24"x1/4" strop on ebay for a great price. The only imperfection was it was not straight on the bottom. It was curved slightly from shipping.
Now for my damage report. I had read somewhere that you could straighten a bent strop by placing it in between a damp towel and ironing it on low. It worked! Problem was it cracked the leather very badly. I mean it had more cracks than a geriatric yoga convention! More cracks than "This old plumber". It turned superdry. So, on to mistake number two.
I rubbed it with mink oil. Still had cracks, so I coated it with boot oil (Red Wing). It turned soft! It's top layer became gelatunuos (sp?). So, I GOJO'd it and pumiced it. It still came off on my razor when I tried to strop it. So, I......

Covered it in kitty litter for a week or two. I took it out and alchohol rubbed it and this seemed to dry it great.

Problem is it has hairline cracks when I pull it tight.

Does any one have any advise? Or should I use it for knives and chalk it up to nievity and try to get another?

Hair line cracks don't sound like a major problem to me.

The key to drying leather of any type be it strops or boots is very slowly and gently as you have no doubt now learned. I had gotten an Ebay strop which was a very nice horseshell strop NOS but also had been stored folded and developed a crease in it. I tried hanging it with a weight for weeks at a time but that didn't work so I soaked it in water and just let it dry slowly by itself and the crease came right out. It has a few water stains but works great.

In the end the less you do to leather the better it is. An occasional treatment with strop dressing is all you need. Some guys just use the oil from their hands.

The cracks are raised on their edges, I can't imagine stropping a razor over them.

If they are true cracks that eat into the strop the strop is toast unless they are very shallow and just maybe with a pumice stone you could sand them out.

+ 1 for stiff lather and some *more* aggressive pumicing.

At this point, I may also try actually sanding the strop (use a flat sanding block). It's supposedly only for advanced / meisters, but at least you may learn something and gain the experience for other cases

Good luck
Ivo

I have sanded and aggressively pumiced the strop. I did this after GOJOtreatment, and before the litter burial.
What I have learned is how delicate the surface of a strop is. There must be the right amount of moistness (not much), but not so dry it is not pliable.
I do have several strops (6 hanging, 1 paddle), but this one seemed ideal at 4" wide. The entire razor was covered, and it was thick so that it stayed flat while pulling it tight. Oh well, I shall look for another. It is not a necessity, as I have plenty of leather to "slap". Note, I do not slap!
Private joke.
The experiance has also taught me how to clean, sand, pumice, and condition a strop, and irons are for golf, patches and clothes only.

Oh, I see.

4"? Is this a razor strop to beging with? And what razor do you have with a 4" long blade?

I myself prefer < 3" strop. Traditional barber size (~2.5) works extremely well because it tends to morph less than the 3" that I had, and gives me better edge / leather contact

Cheers
Ivo