Thread: Nichiri Pelican Shell

And check out those hooks! Cool!

Yes, I wish they still made them like that. If you look closely ar a modern type the swivelling hook is nothing more than a wire nail with the sharp bit cut off and the turn bent into the remainder.

In some you can even see the grip lines in the neck of the nail and the checker pattern on the head.

Still, it does the job...

Regards,
Neil

Not to totally hijack RC's post of this fantastic strop but Neil perhaps you might look into an homage to days gone by strop designs? I want my consulting fee as usual for this idea...No reason you can't make some really nice historically correct strops from earlier designs.

Ahh - I am ahead of you there! I like the scalloped edges of the sewn-on leather tags for the handle and the swivel, and sent of a sample of 1.5mm thick cowhide (the thinnest leather you can rely on for strength going round a flat wire loop like they used to use) to leather-shear and speciality pinking-shear makers - not one was suitable, tearing rather than cleanly cutting the edge. I guess in the old days a former was made to press the whole piece of scalloped leather out of a strip. Easily done today using a fly-press of sufficient strength, but the tooling would be prohibitive - decent presses are hard to find these days too, even though they were two-a-penny when I left school and began work in the Salisbury Forge operating one.

The other thing is an authentic swivel. These would have to be made, probably in India, Pakistan or China to make them affordable enough, and you would probably have to pay for the tooling costs plus order a minimum of, say, 1000. Once again, that makes the price prohibitive.

The rest of it I have already done - when I first started strop making, I used stuffed handles sewn onto a flat wire loop, which in turn was joined with thin leather sewn to the strop. The only thing that did not look original was the hanging gear and swivel.

The barber-style ones are very easy to do, and you can still even buy the hardware like that used for Kanayama strops if you know where to look. But who wants to make a product that looks like someone else's?

Regards,
Neil.

PS - No, I have not forgotten that lovely pressed horn set of scales!

Well my Pelican just got a buddy, fresh from Japan. Leather feels great and is a bit thicker. Can't wait to use it!

Looking good!

That is sweet. I have one of the pelicans with the red letters etc. Great strop and the whole reason I went to whole hog and got the Kanayama 80000. Are they both the same except for the coloring or is there material etc differences

Originally Posted by eddy79

That is sweet. I have one of the pelicans with the red letters etc. Great strop and the whole reason I went to whole hog and got the Kanayama 80000. Are they both the same except for the coloring or is there material etc differences

I believe they are both cordovan, but the feel is different. Could just be the amount each is broken in. Both have very light draw. The blue one is slightly thicker piece of leather too.