Refinishing an old leather strop???

[timfish]

Hey yall, a buddy of mine gave me a leather strop. Its got 2 different stropes a leather one and some type of synthetic one,,,it's called a Uniflex wit illinois razor stop company written on it,,,
Anyways how do I refisnih it please?

 

[c7m2p3]

Can't speak to the synthetic without knowing what kind of material it is. For the leather however, it is pretty easy. If you are just trying to clean off some regular old compound that is caked on there you can get some WD-40 and a rag and get that off of there with a little effort. If you are looking to do a whole refinish, some sandpaper progression is what I normally do. Take the first layer of leather off with a lower grit and then progress up until you get the desired level of 'smoothness' you are looking for. Good luck

 

[timfish]

Can't speak to the synthetic without knowing what kind of material it is. For the leather however, it is pretty easy. If you are just trying to clean off some regular old compound that is caked on there you can get some WD-40 and a rag and get that off of there with a little effort. If you are looking to do a whole refinish, some sandpaper progression is what I normally do. Take the first layer of leather off with a lower grit and then progress up until you get the desired level of 'smoothness' you are looking for. Good luck

Many thanks¡!!!!!!

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

With old barber strops from Illinois and others, the original finish & prep of the leather was key to their performance. Might want to post a clear pic of the strop, to gather more opinions before doing anything like sanding. Sanding is fine with regular cowhide used for stropping - it really doesn't lose anything in doing that. But the barbers' strops have a lot more work invested in the surface finish of the leather itself, all for improving how they work - and sanding could erase all that unnecessarily. Might be other ways to clean it up without risking that. That's why a clear picture could be useful, in getting some specific advice.