Thread: Damaged, nicked, & cut strop repair, salvage, or restoration

I sadly did some *extensive* damage to my nice "Juchten" Russian leather strop yesterday :

I took a gouge across almost half of the width of the strop (maybe 7/8") extending out to a wedge/flap the width of a dime at the edge. (I ran the blade with the edge *leading* down the strop - don't ask how, it's too embarrassing to admit).

The silver lining in the cloud is that this leads to an interesting set of questions:

What is the critical feature of a strop - evenness of the surface as the blade runs across it, fine grain of the surface, or other?
How do you know when a strop is too damaged beyond repair or restoration?
-when is a nick or cut too large?
-how do you repair a strop and what is the end goal required to restore its function?
-should you remove little "flaps" of leather, restore surface smoothness, etc.?
-what if you slice a big flap of leather from the strop that is still attached - should you attempt to glue underneath the flap, or cut it off and sand it down with sandpaper?
-Does sanding down produce "low spots" in the leather surface and how would these affect performance?

Any help and input would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Darren

p.s. Attachment - sanded, oiled nick.