Thread: Strop damage

Things were coming along nicely but during the course of my learning to date I have managed to put some nicks into my hanging strop. They're not deep but can be seen and felt with finger and as I run the blade. I would imagine that this will not be good for my blades! Is there anything I can do as a damage limitation?

Thanks.

There's a few threads around about repairing this kind of damage to strops. Tony Miller gives a very good description of strop repair if I can just find the thread...

They should just sand out, but you don't want grit in the strop. Can't remember what's been siad about avoiding that though. Run through the grits till it's nice & smooth again, then re-finish with your strop dressing of choice to bring back the draw.

Use good quality sandpaper... I used 800 grit. Then rub it good with your palms and put a THIN coat of strop conditioner or neatsfoot oil. I rubbed mine several times, about once an hour, for a day after sanding it to be sure it was clean and free of any grit that may have been left from the sandpaper.

It looks like new again...

Thanks FP, Ben and ED. The 'repair' I suppose is just rubbing the surface 'bumps' out. The nicks will always be there. I'll try to get them reduced down to flatness and just accept that it's experiential learning. Such a nice piece of leather too . Never mind, looking forward to a 'special' shave later - the works I think. Delayed gratification after working from home .

if they are deep you can glue them down and then sand it ... i had to do that as i had a nasty nick in mine and it still came out like new again, with a war scar

If you need to use glue use it UNDER the nick/nicks and then put a heavy book over it.

I used superglue for leather/wood and used it very sparingly. It will sand out just fine.

i find my wifes emery board works well for sanding small nicks

the best way is to use pumice stone. dimples (lower than the surface) don't matter, you don't want stuff above the surface.