Thread: Fixing a nasty scratched up strop

Just thought I'd share this...

(BACKSTORY): My kids, who are 5 and 3, each have their own straight razor to play with. I found a good use for the Simco and Zeepk that I bought before I discoverd SRP... Breadknifed and rounded, and voila! toy razors for the kiddos.
Anyhow, one of them decided to strop their razor on a good vintage strop that I have, and not fully understanding good stropping technique, they left behind some deep nasty gouges in the surface of the strop. I thought it was going to be a throw-away deal.

(THE USEFUL STUFF): Before tossing the badly scratched strop I thought I'd try to salvage it. I rubbed in some Fromm strop dressing, using more than I normally would. Then before it was fully dry (but had dried a little) I took the spine of the heaviest wedgy razor that I have and rubbed the spine over the strop repeatedly with pressure. I'm not sure the technical details of how this worked, but the razor was covered in leather colored Fromm goop, and the scratches were mostly gone.
This morning after the strop had dried, I ran the spine of the heavy wedge over it again several times with pressure. It was easy to see where leather was being removed from the strop. (this was almost like lapping a hone) Once the surface was leveled out, I dressed the areas where leather had been removed with a light coating of Fromm.

The strop looks as good as new.

Very cool tip.. I discovered in the past that if you have a really deep nick in a strop. You can sand it down with .0000 steel wool and rub it with your hand for its natural oils until its smooth and BAMN.. all gone