Quote Originally Posted by SS502MC View Post
I have read a lot were people have sanded the leather to a 2000 grit finish. Is it possible to have a fine/2000 grit on the finish side and maybe sand the intermediate leather with a lesser grit say around 1000?
Quote Originally Posted by thebigspendur View Post
Using leather itself as a honing medium is not common. Vintage strops in some instances had a rougher side but it's a matter of degree. 1000 grit or 2000 grit is really rough. The Norton 4K stone is a pretty heavy duty honing medium. I don't think you will get leather to do that without paste and even then. 1000 grit? forget it.
I think the OP means sanding one piece of leather with 1000 grit sandpaper and the other with 2000, to create a difference in smoothness. As to that question, I doubt you'll find a big difference between those: they'll be very smooth and super smooth. I think you'll profit more from having one pasted leather strop, one clean denim and one clean leather. Do correct me if I'm wrong, I use just a two-sided strop and have used a couple of pasted ones.

As for pastes, you could search for crox (chromium oxide) or diamond pastes, they have been used and discussed abundantly. Other good choices include Dovo red and black paste.