Thread: I think I got miself a dud...

So I was at the antique store yesterday, went through all 5 floors and couldn't find a darned thing (I was looking for straights and mugs/scuttles). Then out of the corner of my eye I see a strop it looked like trouble but I picked it up. all of a sudden shaving related things started popping up in places I was sure I had looked, not straights a but a couple nice DE's (one of which I bought) and some nice ceramics. I kept looking at the strop and knew I shouldn't buy it. It had clearly been folded, had a couple of places where a large chunks of leather had been "carved out" and a couple of cuts that were small but went about halfway in. I should have put it down, but it seemed to bring me a little luck and the price was low so I took it anyway.

Well I took it home and it looked worse than at the store. Nevertheless, I rubber cemented the cuts and sanded it mostly smooth (the parts that had been "carved out" are smooth but thinner than the rest of the strop. put some Dovo yellow conditioner on it (I don't have neatsfoot oil handy) burnished it with a bottle and let it sit flat overnight. Well it doesn't look too bad (who am I kidding???) but the leather has cracks where it had been folded and it's not going away. It's not super deep but would make it impossible to strop unless fixed. I know it's tough to tell without pics (I'll try and get some later) but does anyone think neatsfoot oil can fix cracks? If not, I noticed that the reverse side isn't really all that rough. can I sand and treat that side and use it to strop, it has no cracks or nicks. I really like the look of this strop and would like to save it.