Thread: Linen backing

I have a question about linen backing. I have one of Neil's Cordovan strops without linen on hold or I can wait and he can make one with linen (little narrower 2.5" as opposed to 2.75" with no linen). How critical is the secondary fabric for effective stroping? Should I get the 2.75" with no linen or wait for the 2.5" with linen.

BTW, Neil is a classy guy and a real pleasure to deal with. Absolutely first class customer service.

The linen that Neil offers is top notch (I have the same) and I would not hesitate to wait and have him make one. The secondary is important to have and use. Cotton would be my second choice.

Just to refine the question little more. I've using Kanayama 3 and it has that hard to define secondary leather. How would that compare to the linen? I've also have felt but I'm not sold on that. So I do have secondary fabric, it's just not linen.

I have to agree with Max. Neil's linen is the real thing and, imo, the finest secondary strop material you can have. Straight razors just love real linen.

Wait for the linen

I use the secondary leather on the Kanayamas as a "pre-leather" before I go to the cordovan. Neil's linen is transcendental to boarder-line supernatural. Without a doubt the nicest linen available. The Kanayama linen serves its purpose, and I use mine regularly, but it's hard as dog nails. The NM linen is super soft, almost supple...like cotton balls that don't fall apart when you try to strop with them

Wait and get the linen. Its amazing to use and crucial to dry your straight with a few laps after shaving and after honing as it takes off the shite that would be going on your beautiful and expensive cordovan. The second horshide strop that comes with the #3 is not as abrasive as linen so I use it as part of a tri strop or by itself after linen

!()/?"/Linen%&/()=!

The Linen is one of those things you either believe in or not. Personally, I do but many don't.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The Linen is one of those things you either believe in or not. Personally, I do but many don't.

It sounds obscure or arrogant to say it, but it's one of those things where if you get a good one and you learn to use it, it's hard not to see how great a good linen is. For me, that was getting a good NOS vintage linen (I haven't had the luck of getting any good strops other than a kanayama 80000, and the linen on that one is the weak link), and seeing that using one - for me - once per week for 30 strokes literally keeps a good quality razor at a smooth ATG shaving level for months, as opposed to a couple of weeks on leather alone. What was once about 15 shaves of time before the hones is now 10 times that, and the edge for the whole period is very consistent as opposed to often honing and no linen, where the edge is blinding the first 2 or 3 days and gradually progresses to pulling or at least semi-dull feeling.

I used SRD's poly webbing for about a year and just switched to Neil's linen 6 weeks ago and the difference is remarkable. Since I never use pasted strops, the secondary material is very important to me. I know they chose the poly webbing because it holds pastes well but IMO linen is much better for a traditional maintenance routine.

-john