American Heritage Second College Edition (c)1976:
strop: n. A flexible strip of leather or canvas used for sharpening a razor. -tr.v. stropped, strop*ping, strops. To sharpen (a razor) on a strop. [ME stroppe, band of leather < MLG strop < Lat. Stoppus <Gk strophion]
Laminated on the back of a whetstone? Sounds like a pad to stop it from slipping around as opposed to something for sharpeining (or, more precisely, honing in the case of a strop). (/me ducks as Bitt goes for the Oxford Unabridged...)
One gets to use the word so infrequently; I just needed to take it out for a spin since the chance arose.
-Zeke
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