Thread: Trying to buy another strop

I need your advice guys, if possible. Now I have just one good strop, it is a long napped leather, but it is very thin and delicate, good for travels and similar things because doesn't bend easily and gives very good edges. I tried to buy a cheap "rindleder", but with very bad results. So I'm trying to decide to the Kanayama #3, or a Neil Miller cordovan, or this one: Hängeriemen | DICTUM GmbH - Mehr als Werkzeug

Very different strops with different results and edges, what's the best choice in your opinion?
Thanks

The first two are supreme for sure..can't go wrong with them. I am pretty new when it comes to srops, but if i had the $ to buy one i would buy the Kanayama! Neil Miller strops are also 1.st class that's what everybody who is anybody sais Don't know about the Hangeriemen?
I say go for the first two if you got the chance. That's what i would buy if money was not an option.
Kind regards, Stick

Easy decision,,,,,, Neil Miller

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Easy decision,,,,,, Neil Miller

Was for me too. Go for a 3 inch wide strop while you are at it. The third one you linked to is only about 1 1/4 inches wide. For me that would be like trying to strop on a violin string after using a 3 inch strop.

Bob

As I have both the Kanayama and the Neil Miller, allow me to muddy the waters a bit

The third option is out. The Kanayama and the Neil Miller are IMO the two finest strop makers anytime, anywhere. If you want the best, your choice is between these two.

In terms of collectability: The Kanayama. The Kanayama shell must be handled to be fully appreciated. But the sole maker is ~90 years old these days, and has no one to fill his shoes when he departs this plane. When he's gone, so are his strops, and their value will increase accordingly. At about 150 USD for the #3 with the added woven strop, it is the current bargain of the stropping world.

In terms of performance: The Neil Miller. The craftsmanship, hardware, and superiority of the construction materials of Neil's strops are unrivaled. He uses Horween Genuine Cordovan Shell, and his linen material is the best available today, period. As a performing strop, Neil's are simply the very best. He is also ornery and quite dedicated to a long life of belching forth snarky retorts on shaving forums, and therefore, likely to be with us for quite some time to come.

So, in a nut shell: for collectability purposes, get the Kanayama. For flat-out performance, get the Neil Miller.

My view is all quality strops do the same thing. One isn't going to improve your razor more than the other. So it's a matter of why you want to buy the strop. I would say buy whichever you like the best. I have no experience with Neil's but I have the other in #3 and #90000 and the quality is top notch in both.

Neil Millers cordovan gets my vote.

Gentlemen,

I have long stopped choosing between the Neil Miller and the Kanoyama shell cordovan strops. I like both equally for their quality and the sheer pleasure of stropping. Sure, no particular strop, whether shell cordovan, latigo, English Bridle, among others, is the ultimate answer to stropping. Nell Miller and Kanoyama, however, enrich the shave because of the pleasure they offer the shaver.

Originally Posted by entropy1049

As I have both the Kanayama and the Neil Miller, allow me to muddy the waters a bit

The third option is out. The Kanayama and the Neil Miller are IMO the two finest strop makers anytime, anywhere. If you want the best, your choice is between these two.

In terms of collectability: The Kanayama. The Kanayama shell must be handled to be fully appreciated. But the sole maker is ~90 years old these days, and has no one to fill his shoes when he departs this plane. When he's gone, so are his strops, and their value will increase accordingly. At about 150 USD for the #3 with the added woven strop, it is the current bargain of the stropping world.

In terms of performance: The Neil Miller. The craftsmanship, hardware, and superiority of the construction materials of Neil's strops are unrivaled. He uses Horween Genuine Cordovan Shell, and his linen material is the best available today, period. As a performing strop, Neil's are simply the very best. He is also ornery and quite dedicated to a long life of belching forth snarky retorts on shaving forums, and therefore, likely to be with us for quite some time to come.

So, in a nut shell: for collectability purposes, get the Kanayama. For flat-out performance, get the Neil Miller.

I am not snarky Mike - I just cannot abide idiots.

If idiots post mindless waffle and someone does not correct them, then newbies will see that waffle as the truth rather than the load of clap-trap it is.

I perform a public service in this respect, unpaid - it is purely vocational and out of the goodness of my kind heart.

I do hope I will be along for a while, but I am no spring chicken as it is, no one will follow me and at the time of writing I am gravely ill.

Like Mike says, I make a strop fully able to withstand the rigours of everyday use. The hardware in particular is solid and makes the jap stuff look laughable with its bent-over nail as a swivel. Mine often have rugged, stuffed handles as well as the much cheaper leather grip tabs - considerably cheaper tabs, I should say. The work of cutting out the handles by hand, gluing them together, trimming them, blacking the edges, stuffing them, stamping three holes in each so modular screw fit rivets can be attached then lining the lot up with the leather and/or linen strops (again, better than that horribly stiff, scratchy jap stuff that looks like jute seat strapping and unlike which is usable as-is rather than having to card it or scrub it to remove the stiffness) before punching them with three holes each takes a whole lot longer than folding a leather tab round the end and stitching or riveting it. Although I do offer both types. Occasionally I do a run of napped cowhide plus shell - this is hardly ever remarked on, but is snapped up as soon as it becomes available.

With me, you get what you pay for. If you are after a collectors item, I have little or no time for that, and if you are seeking worth for worth please take the overall lengths, clear stropping lengths, the expensiveness of shell and the expensiveness of real linen plus the widths I produce into account. Then you will get a clearer idea of what value is. Just because someone found something cheaper with smaller dims using lesser materials by a third party maker as a seemingly always-on special offer is not much of a criterion to go by.

I have not mentioned prices and I am not pursuing sales - I have never had to do that. If you dont like my stuff buy someone elses - thats fine by me. Just don't muddy the waters by 'spouting' perceived value when you have not taken everything into account, because I will "belch out' ridicule on you - I do not like being misrepresented.

Regards,
Neil

I find a strop to be the most highly individualized item in a shaver's kit, by far.

I've got most of the big name strops here. They are all serviceable, and most are well enough made. Neil Miller's workmanship is exemplary, and I personally favor his work, but there is more to it than that.
For myself, a strop is all about feel... And that is the quality that makes me like one over another, provided that one improves an edge as much as another. I love the feel, performance and suppleness of Neil's cordovan shell .. it's incomparable!

There is another maker that needs mention, however, and that is Torolf at Scrupleworks. I bought on a while back ... Vegetable Tanned horsehide and natural linen. Trimmed in embossed leather, it is a beautiful, hand made item. I've been using it exclusively for some time now as a test, until it is completely broken in. It is a wonder to strop on. The vegetable tanned horse is not as soft and supple as Neil's shell, but the draw is impeccable (for me), and the efficacy top notch. They are also made to one's own specs, and workmanship is top notch.

So, while I don't have a high grade Kanayama, I do have a #3. I replaced the suede second component with linen from Scrupleworks, and it's a nice strop, but IMO, a slight step down from Torolf and Neil Miller.

So, for me, to to top makers would be Neil Miller and Scrupleworks. But, everyone looks for different qualities in a strop, so, as always, your mileage may vary.