Great-grandfather's strop

My father gave me a strop he said belonged to my great-grandfather. Well, today I was bored and I stropped my "shave ready" Gold Dollar. I have been sanding out the machining marks with wet/dry sand paper. After 200 strokes the razor easily cut my arm hair.

Unfortunately, the threads in the handle of the strop were so old and dry that they all fell apart. =(

My wife says she can just resew the handle with a more durable thread. I am still saddened.

Is there anything that I have to do to preserve/treat the leather if I want to use it more?

I think a photo of the strop will help people give some recommendations.

I will try to get a pic on here. SWMBO said she can sew it back up using the existing holes. Will see.