Thread: Bad strop?

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I'd feel cheated if I bought a new strop and had to go extraordinary lengths to make it usable.

Been there done that... quite a hiccup for me on my learning curve considering it was my first strop.

Originally Posted by Pringr

I Have one, and if you go to the new guys page it is recommended for new guys on a budget Works for me.. I also have a Harold (?), I prefer the Ruskie..

So the Russian has a lot more draw than the Harold ? ,,, which looks closer to horse hide to me :<0)

Yup and likely !

10Pups, the story of this strop is that it is inside out cowhide... I forgot till I went to work.. they say, the cowhide is outside in and then they somehow machine the strops inside so it has ridges that cannot be used (so you are stropping on the inside of the hide, if that makes sense). That said, your theory maybe better than my story!

Just got off the phone with Royalshave. The guy went and grabbed another one and sure enough he said that it is real rough and looks like they got a bad batch.

Good thing is he did not want to send me another bad one and didn't want to take the chance. They are sending me a red latigo strop made by 30 degree or Premiere depending on the one in stock and will be to me Friday or before.

BIG thumbs up for Customer service!

Glad to hear you are getting resolution on this. I have always wanted to try an 827 but your photos scared me off so I'm glad this was just one of a bad batch.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

The #827 is a Russian finish it looks rough as compared to say the #127 which is the same piece of leather only a smooth finish..

Whether that one is good or bad I really can't tell from the pics, it might be bad it might just need some rubbing,,

The ridged back of the strop is a symptom of the Russian finish, it allows for more flex with less finishing on the front of the strop..

Try rubbing it in with your palm if it doesn't work then request a new one from the Vendor,, I would not use any oils etc: the #827 should have plenty..

Are the different models (Russian, Scotch, etc.) distinguished by the finish on the surface?

I know its a bit late to say anything but here's a picture of the very same strop I got almost 2 years ago.

Although not as rough as your pictures the strop has a rather striated rough texture and is a bit fuzzy. I cant really say it destroyed any of my razors but i just don't like dragging my blades over what i think looks like asphalt after a hard winter. That being said, I do like its linen side I find it a very tightly woven fabric a bit stiff but breaks in very well and if anything is great support for sharpening pastes or crayons. i may just do what Glen said and smooth sand it and make it a pasted strop. I'm just wondering whether or not these strops are supposed to be this way or is it a QC thing?

I think something is wrong with that story (Pringr, post 24) - regards true russian leather, which has no been seen for quite some time.

The striations were due to the fact that the flesh-side )not the smooth skin surface) was scraped with wires. The strip of leather was placed skin side down on a curved surface and strips of sharp wire were used to scrape the flesh off - two teams worked at 45 degree angles to the leather, hence the diamond/lozenge shaped marks on the flesh side.

After some time they used curved steel cutters and pulled the flesh side over it. We are talking about the origins of the leather, going back to the 8th century and the middle ages. In 1863 it appeared in Vladimir Dahl's Dictionary as ‘the skin of a mature bull or cow, processed in the Russian manner, using pure birch oil."

Russian leather became a luxury leather - most of europe wanted it and it was transported by sea. In 1786 a ship, the Catherina, set sail from St Petersburg with lots of bundles of Russian leather, the destination was England, but the ship was sunk by a storm in the Plymouth Sound, and was not found again until 1973. The leather was in remarkable shape - the oils had largely protected it (the oils were esteemed for protecting it from damp and insects, even at the time the Catherina took sail with her 100 ton load.

After some preservation, a number of companies were given this leather - not used for a very long time as the recipes had been forgotten - and made shoes and various other items from it - you can see the original scrape marks on it:



The ship is in a precarious condition that salvage is slow, surprisingly they are still taking things off it! If you want an idea of what it smelled like, any of the high class Imperial Russian colognes will give a hint of it, as will Cousins Imperial Leather soap - you have to use your imagination now.

In medieval times the real russian leather was famed as having a lovely smell (the birch oil), and being soft and pliable, When we find it in strops from the early 1900s it is stiff beyond belief and the checker-pattern has been machine applied (compression stiffens leather) and it gave rise to the process of 'breaking-in' a strop - you could not use these strops out of the box.

So for it to be russian leather used in strops it has to have:

a distinctive odour
a sienna or deep red colour
be used on the flesh side, and
have a checkered effect.

It has deviated from its original form over the centuries, and it appears that it is becoming more delinquent, especially by people who trade on its name (it is not russian mostly - great amounts of it are made in other countries) and use it like it was not meant to be used through ignorance.

Having said that I am glad that the OP had his issues sorted out.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by keller34

OK so I got a strop for Christmas. It is the 827. I looked at it and noticed it was a little bumpy but I didn't think that was out of the ordinary. Well ran my blade over it maybe 10 times and it looks way worse. I didn't put any pressure on it and...well... I don't think it is supposed to do this. It is rough as can be now.

Thoughts?

Close up:

This is exactly what my Illinois #827 looked like while it was breaking in...another member mentioned his looked like, "orange peel".

That flakiness goes away relatively quickly, and it is a workhorse of a strop, and the treated cerium(??) linen, feels like hard glass, really tightens up the edge.

I'm one of those weird progressive stroppers, and find I use the #827 now exclusively for big heavy blades, especially the wedges. I will also take most blades to that strop first after a refreshing and/or honing.

The treated linen side, I use quite frequently for all my razors.

Keep palm rubbing it and in a couple of weeks (at most) it will be fine, personally, this is a fine strop, and I'll always have one in the stable...