Handamerican Leather Choices

For a few days i have been weighing up what strop to buy. I currently do not have a strop, so i do not harbour any preference or ill will towards any type of leather :)

Due to their competitive price, and good reports here at SRP (and at Knifeforums on their other products) i would like to go with a handamerican Old dog strop.

But i am having trouble deciding what leather to go for.

I can tell you i will not be loading the strop with any pastes which rules out the split grain i think. This is becuase i use lapping film (5, 1 and 0.3 micron) in the scary sharp manner for such fine abrasive work. I am also having a paddle strop made which i may load one side with paste if necessary. Therefore this hanging strop will be unadulterated.

I am most drawn to the latigo and natural combination, but i also have thoughts about trying the red diamond. Can anyone help me?!?

I hope you have better luck contacting them than I did. I e-mailed them about 3 weeks ago with some questions about their products and such and never heard back. Good luck.

-Tye

Keith is not super fast in the answer, but has always replayed to my question.
I had the same choiche dilemma you have for the same product and I wrote to Keith: he was so kind to send me a complete set of samples of the different leather choice he offer, at only the cost of shipping.
My final choiche for Old Dog strop is Black Smooth and Natural Diamond cut: I send the order yesterday and I can't see the moment to have my strop :D

Ciao
Francesco

I am now leaning towards Red conditioned and Latigo, should give a good balance of drags. Raga, i have sent you a message regarding the samples.

Just a caveat with red Latigo. It will leak a bit of dye. I still use it and love it but some may find it annoying.

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Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

Just a caveat with red Latigo. It will leak a bit of dye. I still use it and love it but some may find it annoying.

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Thanks for the info.

I have half a dozen strops from HA. The best combination I've found is the red and black latigo.

Is there a non-dyed version that has the same texture?

I've had the Red Latigo with Black Bridle leather. Mine is 24x2 1/2 . He can put the diamond cut on any leather. I really like the Black Bridle leather. It has his highest drag rating of five. He does not have it listed on his web site yet. It is different that the Black corrected grain listed. Both my black and red have the diamond cut and I love it. Mike B

I have a red latigo and black. Took a while to arrive. They were having material and equipment problems at the time.

They always answered the phone.

Rick

Just wondering why you would need both a red and black latigo? Isn't one sufficient?

variety is the spice of life. The black has a higher drag rating. You can tell a significant differnce. Mike B

I'm not trying to be argumentative, just trying to learn something new about strops that might help me in deciding future purchases.

If the black has a higher drag rating, and assuming that the higher the drag rating the better, then why get something else? Or, is it simply more is better?

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Originally Posted by Duke

I'm not trying to be argumentative, just trying to learn something new about strops that might help me in deciding future purchases.

If the black has a higher drag rating, and assuming that the higher the drag rating the better, then why get something else? Or, is it simply more is better?

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Basically, it comes down to this: HA puts two leather sides on their strops, not just one, so you can get one with a higher drag and one with a lower. Certain razors respond better to different leathers. So far, the red and black latigo have given me the best "feel" and best results. Some of my very delicate ground razors work better with less drag, like on the natural side. (I have 6 :o ), so you get twice as many options with an HA strop.

I really like the feeling that the leather is sucking the razor blade against it as with the higher drag. I don't like it to slide across as if on ice. I guess knife stropping also has different requirements. Keith has a different reccomendation for knives on his site. Mike B

So what would you veterans of the HandAmerican products suggest for a set to start off with? I havd a strope from Tony Miller and I really like the bench hone idea of the HandAmerican gear. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.

-Tye

I suggest Natural smooth on one side and Black Bridle(not listed on his site yet) with a Diamond cut on the other.

Size what ever your preferance. Kieth is really good with custom orders. I don't have his natural but I do have other strops similar. That would give a good contrast. My 2cents. MikeB

That hardware on his strops is unreal. It is much stronger that that on many old strops.

:confused: :) Joe,

I'm trying to sort things out. Is there a rule of thumb about drag vs. delicate ground razors and not delicate ground razors, or do you just have to wing it? In other words, should I always use a light drag strop on a 6/8 fully hollowed blade and a high drag strop on half hollowed wedges? It appears now that one has to make the same kind of decisions on selecting unpasted hanging strops as one does in selecting hones of differing grits. The fine art of straight razor shaving keeps getting more complicated the deeper I get into it. So much to learn and so little time....

Best,
Ken

Ken,
In all honesty, this won't make a tremendeous difference. A good piece of latigo leather will work well on any grind. Which is not to say that I wouldn't like to have a better variety of strops along my wall :nj With that being said, if you have a greater variety of delicate grinds, it may not be a bad idea to go smooth and vice versa. If you've already made your purchase from HA or TM, enjoy it as you got a quality item that WILL do the job.

Thanks for that. The only reason I got involved with this thread is because I just received a new TM #1 best 3" latigo strop in a private trade. Before this I was using a TM #2 grade 2 1/2" latigo. I was amazed by how differently they performed. The #1 best strop had a #5 draw compared to a #3 draw for the #2 1/2" strop. Man, the razor almost stuck to the strop. The difference was like night and day. So now I have a similar set up as Joe described, a high draw strop and a lighter draw one. Only mine is on two separate strops. So you can see why I was interested in understanding when it would be better to use one or the other. :)

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for razors the best is the double latigo, one side smooth the other diamond/Russian cut

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Recommendation from Keith.

I have an order for two 3"x24" peices of 1/8" red latigo comming along with the hardware (handel and hook part) to make a strop. I'll let everyone know how it works out. Keith was very helpfull.:tu

Eddie

I got keith's recommendation, and a very nice strop it is too. My razors finally pass the HHT!

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Originally Posted by Duke

Just wondering why you would need both a red and black latigo? Isn't one sufficient?

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well guys should I tell him about RAD, SBAD, SSAD/SCAD, and SAD or should I be kind and let him find out for himself hehe :w

Josh, discovery's half of the fun :w

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Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

Josh, discovery's half of the fun :w

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True! Besides if we told every noob about that they may run away lol:D

I just finished putting the handle and hook end on the 3"x24" red latigo Keith sent me. I also added the linnen part from an older illinois strop I had. Perrty nice, I'll have to post a pic later on when I figur out how to.

Eddie

Here is a couple of pics of the Hand American strop I put together.

Eddie

That is a fine looking strop. I am embarassed to say that something i was doing as i flipped the razor at the handle end has resulted in a few small nicks to mine. Oh well, live and learn :)

I know what you mean, I have'nt nicked mine yet. I try to make myself slowdown when I fine that I'm going to quick.

Eddie