Thread: Strop surface texture

Hey All,

I picked up an antique strop yesterday and have set in on bringing it back to life. It has two strops, one marked "sharpen" and one marked "finish." Both leather, the sharpen side is black and the finish is chocolate.

The black side was covered in cracks, which I started to sand out with a stick of pumice. I soon discovered that the only way to get the cracks out was to completely remove the black finish. I suspect that I may have to do the same on the chocolate side, too.

The sanded leather now looks like suede (I can swipe lines in it with my finger).

My question is this: how can I refinish both sides? What can I do to maintain the original intention that one side is, I assume, more abrasive and the other is smoother?

Thanks, fellas.
Alex

The black side was probably pasted and you removed all the paste which accumulated over the years. I probably wouildn't do anything with the pasted side unless you want to paste it again. The finish side, it will depend the condition it's in. A photo would help.

My phone is refusing to cooperate and allow me to post pics. The finish side is pretty cracked and scratchy. If I give it the pumice and remove all the original finish, can I put a new finish on?

The smith or finish side of your strop has the epidermis part of the hide. In order to have finished it in the first place, that layer had to be thinned somewhat. If you break through that layer you will essentially have suede not leather. So the short answer is maybe. I would think you should try to give it a light cleaning and then moisturize it slowly with neats foot, too much will not make it happy leather. Then rub it very lightly with the pumice, or not. Give it a good hard rub with a round piece of smooth glass, bottles are commonly used. It's hard to tell without pictures. It is kind of like asking how long is this piece of string.

And the formerly pasted "sharpen" side

a light neets foot or Glyserine rub may help it out

I think that strop is certainly worth trying to restore it.

I know what I would do with the suede side. I would sand it to ~ 400 grit then bone in hard carnauba wax. You can get a small brick of carnauba from woodcraft.