Thread: Bison made strop

Thank you. I am trying to be patient and I appreciate all the quick replies and comments. It's hard to wait because I want to know so bad. I'll let you guys know what they say.

Let me see if I understand this correctly. You ordered a Bison made strop, made with Horween Cordovan Shell. You received a Bison made strop but you are concerned because the stamp on the back of the leather does not appear to be from the Horween factory. Is it nice leather, the stamps says horse leather, I have no idea what a stamp from Horween would look like, but it is certain you have a horse leather strop. I'm not sure why you feel that the manufacturer of the leather is so important, although Horween is suppose to be the creme de la creme of horse leather.

Horween is supposed to be the best supplier on this side of the pond anyway. They go away back.

What exactly does that logo on your new strop say ? I can't make it all out from the picture. I tried google images for cordovan shell, horsehide, bison strop, &tc, and couldn't come up with a similar image. Here is a typical Horween logo ;

Horween shell cordovan. the only shell cordovan leather vendor in the U.S.

If you paid what I think you did for that strop, I would wouldn't settle for anything less than as advertised. Paid for Horween? That's what it should be. Plus...that backing material looks a LOT like that which I have on one of my strops. The maker calls it a "fine weave cotton"..not "linen". Other than linen is made from flax and this other stuff is cotton, it's hard to say what exactly the differences are but I do know that there are some. On the up side though, that cotton is really nice and I like it a ton.

Definitely not Horween. The word "Industria" leads me to believe it's come from Italy. See this relevant post from a totally different forum:

Italian cordovan?

Say what you will about shoe snobs, but those guys know genuine shell Cordovan.

The reason these Horween shell strops are so expensive is because the material sourced from Horween is very expensive. But you get a time tested, undisputed best in class product with Horween shell. If the maker of the strop sourced the material from abroad, at best they're profiting significantly at your expense as you paid for Horween, and at worst, the material is no better than what's used to manufacture a belt in China.

You paid I'm guessing a heck of a lot of money for this strop. The maker advertised Horween and they are the provider of choice for top-tier strop makers. If I'd received a strop expecting it to be clearly Horween shell Cordovan and I received anything but, that sucker would be on it's way back to the peddler on the first thing smokin'. With a clean conscience.

You sent the seller money for a Horween shell Cordovan strop because that's what you wanted. Get your money back and get a Horween shell Cordovan strop.

This is what the stamp on the back should resemble:

Originally Posted by rcf1023

Hey guys what stamp is this?

Originally Posted by entropy1049

Definitely not Horween. The word "Industria" leads me to believe it's come from Italy. See this relevant post from a totally different forum:

Italian cordovan?

Interesting, note that the logo stamped in the OP shows the letters 'Roci' before it becomes illegible. In the thread that Mike referenced in that link the guy says ....

I've been corresponding with the head of Meermin shoes in Mallorca, Spain, which also uses non-Horween shell sources. Here's what he told me about getting shell supplies:

"In our history we have worked with different Shell suppliers: US Horween, Japanese Shells, Italian finished japanese Shells, and the one we are using now, made in Argentina from Rocinante Tannery. We work with that supplier because its more flexible about the color choices of the hides, stock availability, delivery time, and also because the quality is a good one.

So I'm betting that is where Bison sourced the material. Says horse on the strop though, not cordovan. Anyway ....... I like the caricature of the horse head ...... must be because it looks like an old school tattoo.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I like the caricature of the horse head ...... must be because it looks like an old school tattoo.

You're OK in my book JimmyHAD.

So this is one of those threads that sent me down the rabbit hole......didn't get to Rocinante Tannery but stumble into a group of guys obsessed with shoes, crazy obsessed (kind of hard to imagine) and I end up on You Tube with a dude polishing his cordovan shoes with a deer's thigh bone and I get pulled in....yeah a deer thigh bone, that's what I need for my strop...little greegree for my strop with magic oils coming from the deer bone...Polishing Shell Cordovan Shoes & Boots with a Deer Bone - YouTube