Think It's Time for a New Strop - Guidance Appreciated
Hello all!
I relatively recently bought an old Wade and Butcher that looks like it had been fairly recently reground to ~3/4 hollow (may have been born a wedge). After cleaning it up, building new scales, and giving it a good honing, I took it to the strop. What I had not anticipated was the edge created at the spine from the regrinding was actually fairly sharp, even after honing. I immediately felt the friction on my well worn black latigo, but did not realize until afterward that it basically stripped the surface off of the leather. It used to have a bit of a sheen, but is now dull and grabby. The razor spine has been fixed. Unfortunately, the damage is done. Now, every time I use it (regardless of which razor), the draw is insane, and it leaves an accumulation of black material behind on the spine and edge of the blade.
My questions:
1) Is the leather salvageable? I would like to restore the sheen and bring the draw back down to manageable levels, but am not sure how to approach it.
2) If not, I guess I'll have to get a new material to replace it (what a shame). Since it's an SRD, I am looking at the replacement strips. The only other strop that I have had was a very firm and shiny English Bridle, but sold it because it was too slick for my taste. I like draw, but don't want it to fight me.
The Premium III Buffalo intrigues me, but I am a bit leary that it will be too much. If it feels similar to a good latigo, perhaps even a little smoother, that would be great.
I also read that the SRD version of English Bridle has a "medium" draw, which is not what I experienced with my prior strop of the same material (different brand).
I would appreciate any thoughts from those that have used with these materials.
Cheers,
Aaron
