Thread: Illinois Razor Strop Company

I had a very interesting conversation this morning with Mr. Ed Simon at Fromm International. Mr. Simon has been involved in razor strop production since the 1940's and probably knows more about the subject than anyone. His father was the founder of the Illinois Razor Strop Co. in 1907.
Apparently I was very lucky to get a hold of him as he's not often available.

I picked Ed's brain for about 15-20 minutes. He said he was recovering from surgery and was still a little woozy so I took it easy on him. I could have gone on for hours asking him questions. He's a very nice, patient gentleman.

I suggested that he write down everything he knows about strops and make a pamphlet. I told him what happened at the American Hone Company and he agreed that it would be a good idea to create an informational pamphlet on strops for collectors, home users, etc.
Next year is IRS's 100 year aniversary and he might do something for that. I also suggested a 100 year aniversary razor strop. They liked that idea too, so we'll see.

One little tid-bit I got from him is that the razor should be stropped with more pressure on the down stroke (with the hide grain) than on the up stroke (against the grain) based on how the grain runs on your particular strop. According to Ed the grain should run from top to bottom. You have to inspect your strop to know for sure. I was a little suprised by this, but plan on trying it. I asked him about uneven wear on the blade from altering pressure on strokes. He said it would only matter if there were some abrasive cutting agent on the leather. For an unpasted strop there wouldn't be any appreciable difference. The idea is to not lift the nap of the leather by going heavily against the grain, but you do want to achieve some draw on the blade while stropping with the grain. I propose that a few of us try this out to see if it makes a difference in shaving.

Also, if using a pumice stone to lightly dress a strop, rub the strop from top to bottom only, and not in the other direction back up the strop (in other words, rub only with the grain, not against). For breaking in he seemed to favor sanding with a fine grit paper and/or frequent hand dressing to smooth out the strop. He also mentioned using "heavy" shaving lather during break-in.

And he mentioned something about the superior abrasive quality of linen over cotton in the manufacture of canvas strops. This may help clarify the intended purpose of using the linen when stropping.

It was trully a pleasure to speak with this man and I feel very luck to have had the opportunity.

Scott