How do you clean a strop with 0.25 micron diamond spray?

[Nogorn]

I have had a strop with 0.25 diamond spray on it since Christmas and its black from use and doesn't polish as nicely any more. Does anyone have experience cleaning these?

 

[Ernie1980]

I clean my strops with denatured alcohol. You can buy it most anywhere, it is mostly ethanol with some additives. However, the most important thing is that it contains no water. Don't use rubbing alcohol because the leather doesn't like water
I use an old toothbrush and just scrub the strop until it is clean, and then apply some leather conditioner after the alcohol evaporates.

 

[Sadden]

The largest concern when cleaning strops is contamination. If your cleaning multiple strops start with your finest strop and move on down through to your coarsest.

I use cotton gun cleaning swabs and special cleaner and conditioner designed for untreated leather (as the kangaroo leather I use is untreated) , and I just use a a separate swab for each strop.

I wouldn't really recommend using an old toothbrush , who knows what's on the thing , while the abrasives typically used for cleaning teeth are too soft to scratch metal I wouldn't take any chances getting any chemicals or other contaminants on your strop.

 

[Jason B.]

Lighter fluid has been used to clean leather for many years and works well. Just make sure to apply it to a rag first and not directly on the leather.