Water spots on my strop.

I used to keep my strop in a place that had the potential to get splashed (it has since been moved since it was only a temporary setup) and apparently it did. Now when I am stropping I notice in my up half of the lap the color of the leather gets lighter and then on the down stroke it changes back to the normal brown color in what appears to be water spots on the strop. Will hitting it with some leather conditioner fix the problem or do I need to get a new strop?

Strops do have a directional grain to them so seeing a change in the appearance of the surface is normal for some strops. I realize that you described this only for the wetted areas though.
My first inclination is that you do nothing but continue to use the strop as you have been. Over time the wet areas will dry out and return to normal.

Water spots on leather are funny things and often times once water hits any leather product that doesn't have a particular finish to it the spots are like stains and they never come out. I have some old strops that have some water spotting on them and I've tried just about everything conditioner, oil, you name it and they don't come out. It's really just cosmetic and I wouldn't worry about it unless you have seriously hard water and they are more like deposits. I guess you could sand the strop down and that would remove them but is it really that bad?

I live in Columbus and we do have some hard water but not so hard that I can't work up a good shave lather so I probably don't have to sand it down. Would it be advantageous to give the strop a good once over with some leather conditioner?

You can try a leather cleaner first and see what happens. I like to use bick. After that either leather conditioner or some neatsfoot oil or just use the oil from your palms.

Zaph,

I have had a blood spot (!) about the size of dime on my hanging strop for about 18 months now, and it has caused no problems.

If the area on your strop is slightly raised, use a smooth flat object to gently burnish the spot, and all should be well.

Good luck !

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

Thank you all for the help. I am going to give it the once over with the conditioning routine to keep it in working order, and when I get enough money I am going to get a very nice stop (hung in a non-splash zone) and turn this one into a pasted strop.