There's nothing worse than a nicked up strop which does happen with your first one as you learn how to use it properly and even as a veteran straight razor user, accidents do happen from time to time. So what can you do about it? Your first option is to buy replacement leather if your strop was made with Chicago screws like mine is which is shown below. If your strop was made with rivets, the another option is to buy a new strop which can get very expensive. Here's an alternative option that you can do at home in your spare time and it's budget friendly. I really can't afford to run out and buy a new strop every time something happens. So I decided to put this "how to" together for those who don't want to buy a new strop and to keep what they have. So let's get started and please enjoy:
The tools you will need are a Dremel (or sandpaper will work if no dremel), vise grips, and a screw driver. Mine specific strop needed a flat head screw driver:
Using the vise grips, clamp the top leather clasp down flat and loosen the Chicago screws. Remove the screws and the bottom studs:
Here's the area I'm repairing. This isn't too bad and this strop is decent when it comes to thickness. The really thin strops would take much longer and more care but to be honest, I don't recommend repairing the thin strops unless you are repairing them by hand with NO dremel :
Using the sanding disc attachment, gently sand the scratches out in an "east to west" motion and please make sure the Dremel is on its slowest speed because you don't want it to cut into your strop too much and you don't want it to tear it in 2 pieces either:
Here's what it looks like after using the sanding disc:
Next I went to the small 60 grit sanding drum, the nylon brush and the cloth buffing wheel to finish the repairs up and to make sure the strop looks good:
The small sanding drum done a phenomenal job at removing the scratches that the sanding disc produced and it really blended everything together better than I expected it would. I used a "north to south" motion when using the small sanding drum:
Like I stated it done a phenomenal job. Here's the end results of the drum sander:
Next up I used the nylon brush attachment to clean up the leather more and give it that extra polish. I used an "east to west" motion with this attachment:
The Nylon brush done extremely well. Here's the end results:
Next up I went with the cloth buffing wheel attachment and I used the same motion I did with the nylon brush attachment earlier:
That cloth buffing wheel attachment for my Dremel really made the leather pop:
These cloth buffing wheels are great. But they don't last for very long. Mine is pretty much done at this point. Good thing that they're extremely cheap:
Next up, I went with the Armor All Leather Care gel which you can get in the automotive department at Walmart for less than $5 dollars depending on your location of course. The natural oils in your skin is the best treatment you can use. But this is an alternative that's budget friendly:
It doesn't take much at all and it's best to lay it on a bare flat surface such as a counter top. For me the perfect counter top is in my bathroom:
And since I had the strop apart, I went ahead and also treated both sides of the leather clasps that hold the strop together:
Here's the end result of the repair I made with one application of the leather gel:
Like I stated earlier, the natural oils in your skin are the absolute best leather treatment you can use period. But this product along with anything that was specifically made for leather is an alternative you can use. Mink oil is really good as well:
this is the final result after I did another leather gel treatment and reassembled the strop:
This took roughly around 1 hour to complete and it was fun and simple to do. So if you have a strop that's nicked up pretty bad, this is a really good alternative option other than going out and buying either replacement leather and/or buying a new strop. This is also a really good option in my humble opinion if you are on a tight budget and can't buy a new strop.
