Box strop?

Hi all.
Whilst helping a mate clear out his garage, I came across this.Attachment 200965
It was in a cardboard box which is quite worn.
It has 2 colours, 2 sides are black 2 sides are brown, I am guessing that brown is leather and black is linen/canvass.
It appears to be in quite good condition, a few scrapes but no nicks or dents.
Attachment 200966Attachment 200967

So my mate has given me this as he was going to throw it away, looked all over for the razors as he said it was his Grandfathers and he remembers him having a 7 day set in a box. No luck on that front though but he is going to keep looking for me.
Ok so the questions are.
Is it a strop or a hone?
Should I clean it up as it feels quite oily and the black sides leave marks on your fingers and clothes.
How do I clean it?
Looking forward to your responses and ideas.

Some better pics of the surfaces? 3rd pic looks like slate. It could be a Strop-hone!

It is a four sided paddle strop.

The black stuff is either a proprietary black paste or just graphite - as you say, it leaves a messy residue. It has very little abrasive action and is really used to dress the finishing strop leather with, as its very fine action polishes the bevel of the blade.

4-sided paddles usually had all four faces covered with thin leather, or three faces of leather and one of balsa - can't say that I have ever seen a linen side on a vintage paddle, though... As for the preparations on each face:

1. One face should be plain leather, for finishing on
2. One for black paste, you finish on this as it doesn't do much so you can just strop away, but test - YMMV
3. One for red paste which has a medium abrasive effect (check though, some are more abrasive than the green side) not for everyday use
4. One for green paste (but check - it may be finer than the red paste!) not for everyday use.

As you can see, the red and green sides are not very well defined - some old formulations had a very abrasive red paste, while some new green pastes are very fine indeed.

It is quite usual to see old paddles such as this with the sides contaminated. The original boxes had a little motif that matched with the motif on one of the leathers - usually the fair, unpasted side. The contamination comes from putting the paddle in without matching the motifs up - a common error.

I usually strip all the leather off - dust, grit, contamination etc is a real possibility, so it pays not to take a chance. I also bin the box if it is a bit tatty, as putting the paddle back in it will contaminate it again, although you can wrap the paddle in some thin paper if you absolutely want to keep the box - it should fit back in with the paper sleeve around it.

If it has an oily paste on it you can try cleaning it with an old cloth and naptha (not near a naked flame), but you may very well just push the abrasive matter deeper into the leather. It may be as well to clean it as well as you can, then abrade the surfaces with very fine wet and dry sandpaper, brushing the 'dust' of very often.

If sanding works you will be left with a kind of finely napped surface, velvety to the touch. One can be left as-is to finish stroping on, then the others can be treated with a diamond compound, chrome-oxide or some Dovo pastes, up to you.

No doubt you will get other, more practical info from others!

Regards,
Neil

in response to neils post: I used a piece of roo leather to make a paddle surface, as it was quite uneven I sanded it down to 1200g with wet and dry and after the first use it SEEMS to give a very keen edge, but time will tell, I probably got the closest shave I have had in a while from it though first impressions can deceive.