Thread: A Visit to Japan's one and only Strop Man

I have been meaning to make a trip to the man who makes all of the strops here in Japan, better known as 'Kanayama' (in actuallity it is Kanoyama with and 'o' not and 'a').

His strops have been used and praised by a few people here and they are known for being top quality cordovan.

After visiting with Mr. Naoumi and his wife I am told that he took over his father's strop business and that his family has been making strops for over 100 years. Now, because demand is quite low he only makes about 20~30 a month and is focusing on other leather goods; wallets etc.

Before I get on to the pics, I brought along my two strops a Tony Miller Latigo and Horsehide strop and my Vintage Argentina. His first comment was on how firm the leather was on the TM. He explained that his strops are all very soft and provide the best possible finish on the razor or other edged blade. Whether the pliability changes anything I don't know but his opinion was that a softer more pliable leather was best. Even his thickest strops were vey soft.

He told me that no matter the markings on his strops ('French Hide' ... 'Five Stars' ... 'Llama' ... 'Special Quality' ... 'Deluxe' ... 'Pelican' ... etc.) they are all horsehide, but not necessarily cordovan.

The non-cordovan ones were very thick (1/4 inch) and very stiff. They were labeld Pelikan and have the outerside of the skin on top (slightly textured). He said that it is more abbrasive than the inner side. The higher quality cordovan have the inner softer side on top.

He explained that when stropping you want to use the linnen first to remove the oil off of the blade edge. Follow that by the outerside slightly textured non-cordovan horsehide. And to finally finish with the cordivan. He said that this progession is the best.

There were also some shorter non-cordovan horsehide strops that weren't labeled Pelican that were the same feel as my TM horsehide. The difference between these and the thicker pelican ones was thickness and a non textured top side.

After spending about an hour talking about leather and strops, I came away with one of his textured non-cordovan Pelikan Strops and a Llama 70000. The Llama 70000 is the top of the Llama range and is very rare. The reason being, that he very rarely can source such thick cordovan to make one. Most of the ones he makes now are thinner yet are still cordovan.

A word on the numbers assigned to each strop. Each 'branding' has its own numbering system. In each line the highest numbers are the thickest leather. But all of the cordovan strops are the same in every other respect. So if you have a Fine Stars and think 'I shold get a Llama 50000!' Well the only difference is going to be the thickness of the leather.

He has also stopped making strops with sewn handles and the sewing was getting to be too much trouble.

Now on to the pictures.


His store front doubles as the front door to his home.



Here is a line-up of Llama strops.



A picture of the 70000.



Here is the Pelican 'American Type'. You can see the texture of the outer skin on the top of the strop.





And the man himself.




That's all, I hope you enjoyed it.

Oh dude, I'm so jealous!!!! I wish I could go...I've only talked to him on the phone, and my wife has emailed back and forth with his son (I think).

That place looks awesome!

I didn't know he went as high as 70000...when I talked to him, the highest he mentioned was 30000. Now I want a 7! And a pelican!

Seth,

I HATE you. Just when I thought I had put AD's behind me you rekindle my SAD!

Are his strops for sale in the west?

Kees, Rasage Poulin stocks the 30000, and I think Rasurpur has the 10k as well.

Originally Posted by JimR

Kees, Rasage Poulin stocks the 30000, and I think Rasurpur has the 10k as well.

But that's only 2, but I'd like to see the whole range with prices etc. and then pick the one I fancy most.

I'm waiting for the 1,000,000-Har Har.

great pics of great stuff!
Of course I'd also be curious about a pelican.

Hi Seth! Wow they look amazing! Im jealous too! I want that one..and that one..and the other one..and that one too.. now that i started to control my RAD...Im getting the SAD..oh boy! i gotta be strong!!
Did you get the 50000? give us feedback please!
I looking forwards to the day i visit Japan (11 hours in a airplane its a lot thought)!

regards from Portugal!

Thank you for the write up. It's great that you could visit a master craftsman and get to choose exactly what you wanted.

Cool

Thanks for sharing that.

I dont suppose you asked about "raw" materials?