Thread: That's a Strop!

This is the strop Mastro Livi uses to strop his razors....

Another challenge for Tony... Speaking of which, Tony, could you do one in bright yellow?

Get 'em now boys because after this thread, loom strop prices are going through the roof

Love the yellow

This thing is huge. I am surprised to see the width too. I guess the Mastro doesn't like to X?

Cheers
Ivo

The yellow is due to the cadmium used in the tannery to treat the leather, mastro Livi choosed his hides from a local tannery, he says it's getting pretty difficult finding the right leather for the strop.

Looks like the one Lynn has on his DVD

Originally Posted by vschwager

The yellow is due to the cadmium used in the tannery to treat the leather, mastro Livi choosed his hides from a local tannery, he says it's getting pretty difficult finding the right leather for the strop.

Not hard to imagine as the use of cadmium (being very toxic) is being restricted more and more in the EU.

WOW, that is a strop! Vincent, where did you get the picture? Kees is right, cadmium is a heavy metal and as such is considered a bad actor in chemistry circles. I wonder what it does to leather that makes Livi like leather tanned with it? Anyway, he needs to be careful. Mercury salts were used in England a couple of centuries ago to stiffen the ribbons used in making hats and the result was "mad hatters" syndrome!

Hello Rgdominguez!

I took the picture at the Novegro Knife fair in Milan, last November. Mastro Livi had a stand there and was showing people how to strop his razors after putting an edge on some blades he brought over as demo.

I think cadmium is probably still widely used in tanneries around Italy, I am not sure whether a substitute for it has been found; they were using it heavily in the Tannery triangle around Pisa when I used to work there...long story. It would be nice if they had acutally gotten rid of it, but I am not sure.

By the way, Mastro Livi buys the lather already processed from the tannery, he does not get mixed up with the cadmium directly, but I cannot recall why he looks for certain pieces of leather over others, he told me that it is getting increasingly difficult for him to find the right type.

Isn't cadmium used more as a pigment in general? Was it used in the leather industry to produce a yellow leather or for some other reason?

I'd have thought it's use would be very limited in western countries now due to all the regulations concerning heavy metals and their salts? I'm sure you'd still find it in many Asian tanneries as they often don't give a damn. Even then I'd have thought it would be cheaper to use veg or chrome tanning?