I did something similar with a cheap strop I purchased. It was a Russian strop and was very rough. Had a tough time trying to get a good edge on my blade. In a last ditch effort I also used a rough grit sanding block to take off all the extra bumps and material in the leather. I then followed it up with 1000 grit sandpaper. I then used saddle soap on the strop and used a marble rolling pin to try and get a nice smooth surface on the strop. It seems to have worked. Did 100 passes on the strop and it's seems to have passed the arm hair test.