Thread: Shelly

My Neil Miller is thin like that. I also have a very old Koken that is the same, and a wonderful strop. Probably from the 1920s. My Kanayama 80,000 is thick, a bit over 4mm, and my Tony Miller is 3mm. A friend has the SRD Roo strop and it is thin like the Neil Miller, while my SRD Premium 1 is 3mm. Looking at my vintage strops they are mostly 3mm. The Kanayama being the thickest of the herd.

all 3 of my vintage shells are 3.75mm Yes,I just measured them

Yup, my Neil Miller Shell Cordovan strop is 1.9mm thick.

Bob

I know I'm getting old ...... but MAN ! .......... I just now figured out why the OP titled the thread "Shelly" ! ........... ...........

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

That is thin for a Shell,but a lovely looking strop

Feel free to forget this old info, it is only good for vintage strops, say around 105 to 75 years ago.

Today the standard from Horween and Shinki-Hikaku are all around 1.9 thick, sometimes a wee fraction thicker, sometimes a fraction thinner.

I measure each strop I have ever made. The Horween shell cordovan being painfully regular at 1.8 to 1.9mm in thickness, and that is strops by the hundred, if not the thousand...

Neil Miller

PS a salient reminder:shell cordovan is the fibrous bit contined under the skin of a horses butt, this is what makes it expensive.

Ordinary cordovan is normal hide, taken from any other piece of the horse except that gets the cordovan treatment.

In terms of expense xhell cordovan is most expensive,
cordovan cost a good deal less,
horsehide costs very little.

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Feel free to forget this old info, it is only good for vintage strops, say around 105 to 75 years ago.

Today the standard from Horween and Shinki-Hikaku are all around 1.9 thick, sometimes a wee fraction thicker, sometimes a fraction thinner.

I measure each strop I have ever made. The Horween shell cordovan being painfully regular at 1.8 to 1.9mm in thickness, and that is strops by the hundred, if not the thousand...

Neil Miller

PS a salient reminder:shell cordovan is the fibrous bit contined under the skin of a horses butt, this is what makes it expensive.

Ordinary cordovan is normal hide, taken from any other piece of the horse except that gets the cordovan treatment.

In terms of expense xhell cordovan is most expensive,
cordovan cost a good deal less,
horsehide costs very little.

Cheers for the lesson Neil.
Oh, and i would also love to take one of your strops for a ride.
But that's another thread.
Coming soon at a forum near you.

Where did you get it, I'm in need of a Upgrade and that looks just the job.

That's interesting, the other day I had this exact thought, wonder if stropping with both hands would better strop the razor and equal out wear on the strop. I've always been fairly good with either the left or right, not ambidextrous but fairly close, this is worth practicing with an old strop and a butter knife...thanks!

My Neil Miller shell is 2mm and is a sweet strop. He has some beauties available on his site right now.

Neil knows his shell for sure, love mine.