Thread: Looking for quality strops

What are you favorite High End Strops? I'm thinking my next purchase I would like to be a TM or Kanayama. Opinions?

Just bought a Neil Miller this morning. I can't wait to try this strop. I have been looking at westholme but really wanted one from Neil.

If you are looking for ideas
Neil Miller
Tony Miller
Scrupleworks
Kanyama
Bison Made
SRD
Westholme
TheImperialShave

I am sure many more will chime in. I have and use daily an SRD English bridle. Very nice strop. I have a Tony Miller fast bridle that I like but not as my daily use. I use an SRD Latigo or a vintage horse hide as my strop for after honing. You just can't beat the beauty of a Neil Miller.

Only have one high end strop and it's a Neil Miller shell cordovan horse hide. I like it enough that I would order another in a New York minute. Extremely well made with excellent feed back when stropping.

Bob

The three strops that I don't want to ever be without are:

1. A beautiful Neil Miller Shell Cordovan, very high quality with a medium light draw.

2. Torolf Myklebust (Scrupleworks) Oil tanned Horween with Flax Linen. another very high quality strop with a heavy draw and very nice Linen. I am waiting on a pair of strops from him now to replace one that is going to a friend.

3. The third is the Kanayama I have a #3 as well as a 40K, these are shell as well and have a very fast & light draw. I'm not really a fan of the suede second that comes with the #3, his second component on his other strops is hemp I believe, quite heavy and stiff but works very well with a light hand.

I have stropped on a TM and the one I tried had a very fast and light draw, I think it was a #2 Heirloom, a very nice strop at an attractive price and made here.

I think that a good strop (or three) are must have tools for maintaining the edges on straight razors and untill I started honing I didn't realize just how important it is to develop excellent stropping technique and have excellent tools for this aspect of edge development.

Originally Posted by JTmke

Just bought a Neil Miller this morning. I can't wait to try this strop. I have been looking at westholme but really wanted one from Neil.

If you are looking for ideas
Neil Miller
Tony Miller
Scrupleworks
Kanyama
Bison Made
SRD
Westholme
TheImperialShave

I am sure many more will chime in. I have and use daily an SRD English bridle. Very nice strop. I have a Tony Miller fast bridle that I like but not as my daily use. I use an SRD Latigo or a vintage horse hide as my strop for after honing. You just can't beat the beauty of a Neil Miller.

I have or have had all of the ones you list and the Westholme is my favorite, They aint cheap but they are worth it

Just received my Bisonmade horse hide. Beautiful strop. Very, very light draw (which I like). Bison also makes cow and shell cordovan strops. Their web site does not offer customization... but you could call and ask if you want anything special; like D-rings instead of handle, that sort of thing. JTmke's list is pretty complete. You should be happy with a strop from any of those makers. Enjoy your shopping.

Have you perfected the art of stropping yet? if not hold of for awhile until you do.
A high end custom will get you nothing over a good mid price strop.
As above, some of the finest strops to be had are made by Neil Miller,but they are works of art and priced accordingly.
You pay for High end materials and expert craftsmenship,are they better?????????

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Have you perfected the art of stropping yet? if not hold of for awhile until you do.
A high end custom will get you nothing over a good mid price strop.
As above, some of the finest strops to be had are made by Neil Miller,but they are works of art and priced accordingly.
You pay for High end materials and expert craftsmenship,are they better?????????

I agree wholeheartedly with making do with a cheap strop until you have perfected your technique - when you reach this point you will understand what you personally need/want in a strop and be in far less danger of damaging a strop with your razor.

I also agree that finish and workmanship do not make a material - say like shell cordovan - any better than if it was made with a simpler, cheaper design - common sense says that the materials are equal (if you have used a good piece of leather rather than a poor one). That also applies to a previous comment - most western strops made from shell cordovan are made from Horween shell, so they performance can not enter a critique, as in use they will strop much the same.

What we are looking at here is 'personal choice' you are free to take one over the other. If you prefer a high-end, well made strop then go for it - or if you want a cheaper copy then go for that. There is no right and wrong - you would not expect to be chided for driving a cheap mid-range car rather than a high end car like a Rolls Royce, they both get you from A to B after all.

Asking someone why they chose the RR is a bit pointless, we cannot all like the same things, neither should we, for it would be an Orwellian type of existence with no joy in it.

Regards,
Neil

Technique is down. Have been Straight shaving for years. I've been using the same Black Latigo SRD strop for 2 years along with an old russian shell strop and I think I even have a Seal leather strop hanging out somewhere. I'm definitely looking for something a bit nicer now. If anything it'll force me to slow down when stropping as I'll be paranoid about putting nicks into a piece of art where as now I can blow out 60 laps on the leather in about 15 seconds without nicking the strop. That's not to say I don't ever slip here and there.

I knew my first strop wasn't the best, but it worked well and I was able to keep blades sharp for a good long while.
I recently wanted a step up and grabbed a Plain Vanilla from Tony Miller.

I had no idea there would be such a night & day difference between my new & old strops.
It's hard to believe this is a budget strop. So smooth & flat... Beautiful material, craftsmanship, and I love using it.

I also thought I might have a learning curve moving from a 3 inch strop to a 2.5 inch. Absolutely no issues.