I used some polishing compound on a strop that I believe was intended for buffing wheels.
I smeared it on a piece of leather, and it was all caked up & not evenly applied.

Today, I took some Coleman Fuel (it is gasoline, but without the nasty gunk auto-fuel has in it, I thought CF might stink less than Kero or auto-gasoline)....

Took some Coleman Fuel and doused it on a small patch of cloth, and rubbed the strop.
All the caked up compund dissapeared.

I **think** the strop still has compound on it because I *think* I can heard it grind when I strop on it.

Some sort of solvent on a rag might be of benefit to your strop if it is over-pasted like mine was.

Cheers, JOdy