Been sharpening a bunch lately ( and finishing on my strop)and I've got a decent amount of metal grit bits accumulating on it. Is there some way to clean it off without scuffing up the leather or do I even need too? Thanks , Seth

I have one I've used for over 10 years and have never cleaned it.  I am about to make another though.  The center of it is dished out from polishing a small blade.

My next one will be made with thin leather glued down to a piece of hard wood or plate glass.  I used thick leather glued to a scrap of 1X2 on the one I am about to replace.

K.C.  <><

Okie leather , mine is the one from 3 rivers and does great. A little wood block with thin leather on top . Just wasn't sure if the leather was doing its job still if it had the gritty surface. Thanks again for the reply

When I'm cleaning my shop I hit it with shop vac - sucks all metal dust off no problem. It also sucks rouge dust off as well so you'll need some if you do this.

It's my understanding that you don't clean a leather strop. Once they turn black and get an accumulation of rouge is when they start working great. I haven't added any rouge to mine in years. The vac idea sounds good just to get the grime and dust off.

flitz or mothers metal polish works great
rub metal polish into it and let it dry

I use a strop that is well over 100 years old, used by my grandfather in his shoe shop. It has never been cleaned and works perfectly. It has never had metal polish or any foreign material rubbed into it. Grandpa always used the strop only to remove the burr that formed during the sharpening process. If the blade still needed any work, he stayed on the stone. He could get a knife sharper than ANY other person I have ever known. This includes blades done on many of the really popular sharpening systems. Unfortunately, knife sharpening is not  skill passed down genetically.

Grandpa always used the strop only to remove the burr that formed during the sharpening process. If the blade still needed any work,


that is excatly what the old timers all did...the right way to do it!!!

A link to the "strop shop", which may be of interest. I came across it when buying some pure neatsfoot oil
  strop shop

If the leather is not too dried and cracking, you can probably clean it up with a tallow soap (I use Williams for restoring strops).

Once you have it cleaned up and dried well, apply a little Neatsfoot Oil.

Rub it in well and you should have a very servicable strop.

I wish I had my Grandfather's strop, it was from the 40s, and he used it as late as 1976 before he passed away.

JL  

i use straight razors to shave. and strops are very important and i can tell you that you should NOT clean you strop in any shape or form.  and should make sure it never bends the wrong way or it can cause wrinkles that make it almost  useless.  keep it dry and if you want to use diamond compound on one you should purshase a second to use after the compound.

I use isopropyl alcohol to clean my strops. It removes all the grit and old compound.