Thread: Can I restore a wavy leather strop?

I am a woodworker and would like to use a strop to sharpen various cutting tools. I bought a strop at an antique store an it's stamped Fain Barber Supply Headland, Ala Non-Par-Eil 57 on the leather. It has a solid woven linen 258 strop attached. It looks like the leather strop was distorted by something pushing against it and the leather has waves in it and it does not lay flat. My question is can it be ironed to make it lay flat? Can I use a conditioner with silicone & lanolin on it? any advise would be helpful.

Thanks Gary.

I would not recommend applying heat to the leather. The results can be distastrous. Personally, I wouldn't do this to an old strop. I'd rather hang it as a piece of decor.

I use vegetable tanned leather, glued to marble, for stropping leatherworking and woodworking tools. This arrangement works out better than a hanging strop for most tools of this sort. If you have a leather store (i.e.; Tandy) in your area, you should be able to find veg tan remnants for not a lot of dough. You don't need the full length of a razor strop for this one. About 12 inches will do. I keep a couple on hand, rubbed down with a couple of different grades of jeweler's rouge.

one possibility:

-soak the leather (wash with saddle soap first if you prefer).
lay flat on surface that will take water.
-weight down with heavy flat books (got any big text books kicking around?) or the like. once again, consider something that wont be ruined by water, but will preferably absorb some moisture agreeably.
-let dry.

worked for me, worked for somebody else... if anyone has comments or suggestions please chime in.

It depends how deep the waves are. Soaking in water is the nuclear option with strops. Often times it works but often times will leave black marks and other artifacts in the leather.

If the waves are really deep it could be it's waiving good bye to you.