Thread: Pegasus Raven Strop

Originally Posted by RezDog

You think you are confused, I'm still trying to figure out when the raven turned into a horse.

Never more

Sorry I might have confused the matter. Shell does come from horse but not all Cordovan is Shell. The Horween website will help explain better than I can.
Shell Cordovan « Horween Leather Company

And our dear Neil Miller explains all here
Straight Razor Place - Beginners' Tips: July 2015

There are only 5 tanneries in the world that I know of that make Shell Cordovan: Horween, USA, Joseph Clayton and sons,England. Shinki-Hikaku Co. Japan. Conceria Cloe and Rocado SRL from Italy.

Now where can I find a strop made from a raven...

My understanding has always been the Kanayama strops were Shell Cordovan which is horse and is defined as a horse product and you paid for the length and thickness of the product along with the additional third strop in the higher end models. The reason the pegasus pieces are bonded and thinner is because they are Black Cordovan which is much harder to get and is rare and comes in thinner material.

We have discussed this before and the term Cordovan is totally different than Shell Cordovan. Cordovan is really a color/finish which any leather can have.

Here is a great article that discusses cordovan, shell leather and Horween. All individual things.

Cordovan Leather from Horween ? Gentleman's Gazette

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

My understanding has always been the Kanayama strops were Shell Cordovan which is horse and is defined as a horse product and you paid for the length and thickness of the product along with the additional third strop in the higher end models. The reason the pegasus pieces are bonded and thinner is because they are Black Cordovan which is much harder to get and is rare and comes in thinner material.

We have discussed this before and the term Cordovan is totally different than Shell Cordovan. Cordovan is really a color/finish which any leather can have.

This is where we slightly differ. Yes Kanayama is Cordovan horsehide just not Shell Cordovan. Both are from a horses ass just a different part of ass. I read an article awhile ago stating the differences but do you think I can bloody find it?

Mark

Based on my own experience (I have 2 Kanayama) I would say they are definitely Shell Cordovan. If they are not he did a really good job making them look and feel like it.

That's what I thought about kanyama strops as well. I found, what I'm calling, the last 90000 kanyama ever sold. They were out of stock on every site I looked at, and was told no more new ones could be made due to the old age of the maker and the lack of quality leather on the market. Mr takeshi at aframes had one not listed on his website because it was 1 cm short, so I bought it. They are works of art in my mind, and I rarely use it because I'm fearful of damaging it. The draw is like butter, right from the gate. This raven strop is getting to be in the same level of smooth buttery draw, but it took lots of break in and still isn't quite perfect. I love learning about this information, thank you for the links about shell vs cordovan, quite interesting!

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

My understanding has always been the Kanayama strops were Shell Cordovan which is horse and is defined as a horse product and you paid for the length and thickness of the product along with the additional third strop in the higher end models. The reason the pegasus pieces are bonded and thinner is because they are Black Cordovan which is much harder to get and is rare and comes in thinner material.

We have discussed this before and the term Cordovan is totally different than Shell Cordovan. Cordovan is really a color/finish which any leather can have.

I believe Kanayama strops are priced by the age of the horse that created the hide. Older horses have thicker shell and are priced higher. Folks that have several have said they all strop the same, but the older horse/thicker strops are more durable. I have a #3 and I can't find a reason to strop on anything else.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

My understanding has always been the Kanayama strops were Shell Cordovan which is horse and is defined as a horse product and you paid for the length and thickness of the product along with the additional third strop in the higher end models. The reason the pegasus pieces are bonded and thinner is because they are Black Cordovan which is much harder to get and is rare and comes in thinner material.

We have discussed this before and the term Cordovan is totally different than Shell Cordovan. Cordovan is really a color/finish which any leather can have.

Back in 2009 member ZethLent visited the Kanayma (Kanayoma) strop works and spoke to the old man himself.

So this is from the (ahem) horse's mouth in a manner of speaking ;

Originally Posted by ZethLent

Before I get on to the pics, I brought along my two strops a Tony Miller Latigo and Horsehide strop and my Vintage Argentina. His first comment was on how firm the leather was on the TM. He explained that his strops are all very soft and provide the best possible finish on the razor or other edged blade. Whether the pliability changes anything I don't know but his opinion was that a softer more pliable leather was best. Even his thickest strops were vey soft.

He told me that no matter the markings on his strops ('French Hide' ... 'Five Stars' ... 'Llama' ... 'Special Quality' ... 'Deluxe' ... 'Pelican' ... etc.) they are all horsehide, but not necessarily cordovan.

The non-cordovan ones were very thick (1/4 inch) and very stiff. They were labeld Pelikan and have the outerside of the skin on top (slightly textured). He said that it is more abbrasive than the inner side. The higher quality cordovan have the inner softer side on top.

He explained that when stropping you want to use the linnen first to remove the oil off of the blade edge. Follow that by the outerside slightly textured non-cordovan horsehide. And to finally finish with the cordivan. He said that this progession is the best.

There were also some shorter non-cordovan horsehide strops that weren't labeled Pelican that were the same feel as my TM horsehide. The difference between these and the thicker pelican ones was thickness and a non textured top side.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...tml#post440344

I was under the impression that Kanayama is shell, cordovan is a process and color. Shell or not my Kanayama (shell as far as I,m concerned) strops as smooth and finished as smooth or better than my Neil Miller shell (and there's no doubt about it being shell!) so I think the Bigspendur is correct, not arguing but the finish from cordovan is hard to fake. But it's preference really cause some even like to strop on Latigo. Tc