Norvegan friendly strops

Say a fella wanted to buy a strop and was hung upon the horns of dilemma: horsehide vs. cowhide. How does the beginner figure out where to hide the ignorance and determine which strop material has the properties he would like to have for his new strop?

As ya'll know, you can tell a Norwegian, but you can't tell him much. Regardless of those hurdles, I'd appreciate the attempt in helping me figure out which strop is going to work the best. Tony's virtual strops look good on the monitor, but how does one tell which leather will work the best for one's actual attempts at stropping?:confused:

a thousand thanks

Anything you buy from Tony's shop is first class material.
Whether you buy cowhide or horsehide, red latigo or honeybrown, they are all excellent strops.

I have the honeybrown 3" and it is an excellent strop. Tony himself uses one regularly.
Others prefer the latigo, but no matter which one you choose, it will be a good strop.

Just echo what Bruno said.


Justin

If you happen to live in the Trondheim part of the Norway, I can show you what the Heirloom Latigo model looks like.

No matter what you choose, I think you'll be happy with the result. I like the look of the newest addition to Tony's strops, but I'm going to do my best to forget it and be happy with the one I have. :D

Beware the temptations of buying more than you need!

On any makers strops, not just mine, the type of leather determines the draw or friction you feel. Here is where personal preference comes in and probably why most makers offer more than one leather choice. None will do you wrong if made from quality leather, no matter what the draw factor so it is more what you want from the strop.

Some leathers are quite smooth feeling like many natural leathers or my honey brown. To me these feel best on lighter weight razors. It's not that they do a better or worse job I just feel a light weight, delicate edge razor strop more comfortably on a smoother strop. Other like Latigo and some makers Russian leathers have a lot of draw. To me these feel best with heavier grinds but again it may simply be a heavier razor strops better on a heavier draw. Much of that has to doi with the pressure used in stropping... a heavy, or light hand.....a heavy, or light razor.

Some makers texture there leathers too. Buffing the surface quickly increases draw as do many strop dressings. Some leathers have a coated surface, typically a surface dye/paint that affects draw, others are dyed all the way through and only the actualy texture of the leather plays a part in draw.

So, why all the difference? We all want something different. I myself tend to use a medium to light draw the most, but do switch around depending on the razor.

Tony

Tony - how would you describe the difference between your horsehide and red latigo strops in terms of draw.

Bruce - I have a 3" hanging red latigo that is my everyday strop - it does a great job on all of my razors and I use slightly more or less pressure depending on the grind of the razor I'm stropping. I've also treated it with a VERY small amount of strop dressing that slightly increased the draw and am very pleased with this strop (shames the hell out of the Dovo strop I was using before).

I also have a 2.5" demo strop that Tony sent me to try out in a natural leather that has very little draw. I sometimes use this on my lighter razors and/or for the last 20 or so laps on my heavier razor - with good results.

However, my view (based on trying about 3 - 4 different strops) is that the red latigo is a great all-purpose strop. I can't comment on the horsehide variant, which I why I think it would be helpful for Tony to explain the differences between the red latigo and horsehide.

My vintage horsehide strops have a silky feel and very little draw and are my strop of choice if I'm using a very thin-ground razor. Honey-brown is a great all-purpose strop, and the Latigo really suits heavier sheffields and the 7/8 and 8/8 razors in general.

I have several horse hides with various draw:
almost non-existent (Clydesdale shell)
light - medium (Russia shell)
medium (DublDuck Broke In Russia)

I like them all very much and they all do a great job on all razors I have tried on them (but I haven't used a heavy 8/8 or 7/8 on them)

Cheers
Ivo

My horsehide is typical of what MParker describes. Less draw than a latigo, maybe a bit more than honey brown, but far less than a red latigo. I would guess it is about even with a Jemico tan or Red russian in draw.

It does have this unique silky feel which is typical of the vintage horsehides I have used. Remeber though it is not just the type of beast these came from but the tanning process as well. if the horse were tanned and treated like Latigo it would feel like other latigos. If a buffed surface like Jemico does it would feel similar to those, if reversed leather l;ike an Illinois #827 it would have a similar feel.

Tony