Feedback/reviews of 30-Degree Black Latigo Leather 3" strop?

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03-20-2015, 07:09 PM
dinosilone

Feedback/reviews of 30-Degree Black Latigo Leather 3" strop?

I used an old (bought in the 1970s) Illinois "Imperial Russia" strop for nearly 40 years before it got too ragged to keep using. Bought another one about a year ago, and found that their quality has really deteriorated - the thing started peeling almost on day one, and now the leather side is nearly unusable. So I'm in the market for a new one, and want to shy away from the Fromm/Illinois strops - apparently I'm not the only one to experience quality problems, judging by the reviews on Amazon.

I was looking for a moderately priced strop, and came across the 30-Degree latigo strops. They get 5-star reviews on Amazon, but I haven't been able to find much information on them here. Their 2" version is about $56, and the 3" is $75. Granted, that's way more than I've ever spent on a strop, but I'd be willing to go the $75 if it's really good and will last significantly longer than the Fromm that lasted less than a year...

Anybody have any experience with these 30-Degree strops?

Thanks!
03-20-2015, 07:36 PM
EdG

I have not used this strop. What I do have is a 3 inch Latigo from SRD. 60 bucks. Other than a small nick I put into it from being a dummy, it looks exactly like it did when it got delivered two years ago.
03-20-2015, 07:49 PM
dinosilone

Thanks, EdG. $60 is better than $75 any day!
03-20-2015, 07:52 PM
pixelfixed

Whats a 30 degree strop??
03-20-2015, 07:56 PM
LexTac

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Whats a 30 degree strop??

According to the pics on Amazon, 30 Degrees, must be the maker, since 30 is embossed in the leather.
03-20-2015, 08:59 PM
dinosilone

Yeah, it's the brand name. Looks an awful lot like the SRD strop.
03-20-2015, 09:26 PM
dinosilone

Was just on SRD's website to order the strop, and they give 3 choices for the second strop - "matched webbing", "premium fabric", and hard wool felt. I've never had anything but the old-fashioned coarse linen fabric as the second strop. Any idea what these 3 different choices mean? Which did you get, and did you like it? (Sometimes too many choices are worse than too few... sigh)
03-20-2015, 09:59 PM
LexTac

As you probably noticed by the price, the hard wool felt is premium, the premium fabric is moderate and the matched webbing will work, but it's the least desirable..
03-20-2015, 10:28 PM
thebigspendur

Actually I have one of their web strops and it works just fine. I don't think it's any less effective that my best linen strops.
03-21-2015, 01:17 AM
JimmyHAD

You can't go wrong because you still have the fabric from your two Illinois strops. Whichever you choose from SRD, if you don't like it as much as the second components on your older strops, you can just fall back on the old favorite. IMHO .......... :gl:
03-21-2015, 04:09 PM
dinosilone

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

You can't go wrong because you still have the fabric from your two Illinois strops. Whichever you choose from SRD, if you don't like it as much as the second components on your older strops, you can just fall back on the old favorite. IMHO .......... :gl:

Well, this gave me quite the Aha! moment... The linen on both of my old strops was still in great shape. Then I remembered that, in my tool box, I had a strop made of cordovan shell that I picked up for $10 at an antique mall. It had no hardware of any kind, just a metal grommet to hang from, so it's basically just been used to touch up razors when I hone them, and for chisels and plane irons. Voila! Put together with the old linen and Illinois hardware, and Frankenstrop is born.

Good thing I was in analysis-paralysis for a while before pulling the trigger on a strop that cost more than almost any three of my razors put together!

Thanks, everyone.