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.