Thread: My Deceased Brother's Dubl Duck Strop?? Not sure what I have :)

Hi Gentlemen ~ & Ladies. My Brother was a Barber ~ though his career was very short as he died from injuries involving a motorcycle accident about 45 years ago after practicing for less than 2 years. He left his tools and some other momento's that have been put away for many years by my Mother. She passed away about a year ago and his things were then passed along to me. I have been really enjoying researching some of his (now) vintage tools of the trade. In his things were 3 straight razors which I have researched enough to know that they are apparently worth a lot more now than they were when he purchased them LOL. I'm sure he bought whatever he could find at the least expense as he was just starting out and these razors he may well have purchased from someone when he was in barber School.

Anyway ~ to get to the point ~ it is not the razors so much that I can find no information on as it is this Dubl Duck (what I am guessing is a travel style strop) I am attaching several photos to give you an idea of what I have. I looked all over the internet and E Bay and found not even one photo or mention of such an item which I thought was quite surprising! One side of the tool is plainly leather but the other side ~ the darker side ~ I am just not sure of. Held up to a light I can see hundreds of very tiny shiny areas. at first I thought it was an imbedded abrasive of some sort and then it occured to me that they could just be tiny remnabts of the blade having been sharpened and miniscule fragments of the blade left behind in the process.

I am hoping someone on this board has used/seen/owns one of these and can answer all my questions LOL. The first pic is of the razors he had and the others are of the "mystery" item Thanks so much in advance for your input and information. Sincerely .... CurtH

Thats a nice looking set of vintage tools. The paddle strop is a double sided paddle strop one side is a little rough to heat the blade up and the other side is smooth to strop the blade back into alignment. It's hard to tell from the photos by sometimes paste is added to one side to help sharpen the blade some more. From the looks of it that paddle has scrub leather with out paste and then a finer leather that you progress up to, which is the typical progression. Some gentleman use paddle strops everyday so it's not necessarily a travel strop by any means.

Thx aircoder ~ I appreciate the information !! CurtH

Your bro had good taste,very nice artifacts.

pixelfixed ~ I'd like to think that was the case LOL. But my guess is that at the time he didn't know he had such good tastes If that's not true ~ he might just reach down from up above and slap a knot on the side of my head for my comment LOL. Thx .... CurtH

My brother died 36 yrs ago in a one car accident thank god,he registerd the highest Blood Alc in the state of Calif at the time.4.2%
I have nothing of his,what you have is very nice,enjoy

I shall ~ Thx .....

Your brother did have fine taste and what you have are pretty nice specimens of some great straight shaving gear. Enjoy em all and sorry for your loss of your brother and your mum.

I'm sure he would appreciate knowing that My Mum lived to near 90 years, so she had agood , long, full life thx for the kind comments CurtH

Those are some very nice blades. They look pretty much rust free. If it were me I'd leave the patena just hone and strop em up. If there is rust I'd remove it and make a determination how new you want the blades to look. Either way you've got some great gear with memories to boot. Enjoy.