Thread: Need Advice

Thank you for your input RezDog. I know how to be a smoke free....
This is my second attempt. During my first one, I was smoke free for 5 amazing years....

;-) I believe I am on extended smoke free period five. Sometimes it takes some people a little longer to get a handle on things. Enjoy your reward, it is actually an important acknowledgment of your achievement.

Danny,

I'd lump the Kanayama and Bison strops at the top, then the Premier and finally the Illinois at the bottom.

I have the Illinois and it's one of my favourite strops, but it takes a lot of work to get it in shape as it is quite rough out of the package. I spent several hours shaving all the shagginess off the leather using a variety of items such as a sharp knife, pumice stone and diamond plate with the DMT 325 doing the job of finishing the leather.

Kanayama and Bison are top notch strops. The Premier will be like the one I gave you (it too is latigo leather) and the only gain would be it's 3" width. I have a 3" strop and honestly, I think I prefer the 2.5" ones I have... I don't have any problems with the 3", it's just that I've stropped for so many years on the 2.5" that 3" seems too wide to me.

Pick the one you like best, the Premier should have a draw similar to the strop you have, the two Bison and the Kanayama will have a lighter draw and you need to choose based on what YOU think you might like as they will all do the job well.

And congratulations on 1 month of no smoking! I quit nearly 30 years ago, it was the best thing I ever did....

Let us know what you decide, and how you like the new strop.

Regards

Christian

Personally I would choose between the kanayama( which is described wrong in the site it is horse shell leather and leather doesn't have a grit rating the numbers have to do with thickness of leather and length. The higher the number the thicker and longer ) or the bison horse. I would choose the kanayama because I prefer barber's ends

The Kanoyama fabric is stiff out of the box but works fine. With this material, you should only be using blade-weight pressure while stropping, that is, the sensation should be of just sliding the blade across the fabric, not 'stropping' with any pressure.

As far as the stiffness goes, I wash mine in a spindle-less clothes washer with fabric softener. Let it air dry. You'll find it is still stiff. Now lay the fabric on a table and double it sharply and roll the fabric betwen your hand and the table along it's entire length until flexible. This loosens the fibers. You can also do this with just your hands, but work the fabric until it loosens up.

A final touch, I rub the surface lightly with a 400 Atoma plate until there is a just detectable nap on the surface which increases the feeling of softness and provided a tiny cushion. You're now good to go with blade-weight pressure.

Cheers, Steve

Well,
Today I was agreed to adopt this guy: Bison 2 1/2" Horsehide Razor Strop
The Kanoyama, will come as a BD gift
Once again, I do appreciate for all the help here.

Danny