Thread: Strop socks

I do give them a palm rub every now and again, but in the back of my mind I wanted them to retain the 'new' status, so in the event I pass one on to another, they are ' brand new'. All part of the enjoyment of acquiring all things shaving. I'm very pleased with my latest addition, a three piece #50000. Whereby I added a suede piece to this quite thick leather, that is the #50000. Can't tell the difference between it and my #80000. It's not economically sensible to do it that way, but I had a#10000 that I sold as a 2 piece. I had initially advertised it as a 3 piece, but once again it was too expensive, cheaper to buy a #70000. So I wound up to with a spare suede piece, etc., and now I have a fairly rare combination of the #50000 with suede piece. Great fun this!

Economics? No such thing as cheap fun!

Speaking on Kanayama

Seems the old man cannot possibly still be churning out the strops anymore?
I often wonder if the family is doing it these days.

I asked that question of Fendrihan who have his new #4560 strop, with a handle and new stamp. They told me, nothing has changed. He is still a one man operation and has no apprentice, nor has he sold the business. The strop #4560 at $110 with handle is a special order and the stamp spelled differently to the normal one, that is, the stamp on the #4560 is in block capitals KANOYAMA is not going to be a change to his normal range. About a year ago, there was a shortage of his range, and there was speculation that he may be closed to retirement. Lot's of us found stock at Fendrihan, and I bought a couple back then. I on sold them, and when Aframestokyo gotstock of the #70000 and #80000 I bought a few more off him. So now it seems the old bloke is still making them as before so for the moment I have the two #70000's, an #80000 and this new #50000. I think I'll sit on these for a while. I don't like the look of this one with the handle, and I won't be adding one any time soon.

Things we read...
I was always under the impression that his name is spelled Kanayama.
Something about how a stamp or other came out misspelled, so they just went with KANOYAMA.
Could be wrong? Hell, Jimmy was once!

Anyhoo, he is likely quite old.
I also seem to remember a Japanese seller and (lately absent) good member here stopped selling the strops due to quality issues. Was a big deal.
Seems they have a good name to use. Perhaps the quality has come back up?
An old photo of him, holding a stack of Llamas or Fine Stars!

Greatest stropmaker ever, I suppose!

Well, his real name is KANOYAMA. When he started out many years ago, he had the familiar gold leaf seal spelt Kanayama, with an a. So it was adopted after originally the mistake wasn't noticed. So rather than try and explain the mis-spelling and have another stamp made, he simply went with it, thus it is, was known as 'Kanayama' and stayed that way. So you can see why I questioned Fendrihan over the different stamp and different spelling. So, as of now, we might have to concede Jimmy was right....again...

Originally Posted by bobski

Well, his real name is KANOYAMA. When he started out many years ago, he had the familiar gold leaf seal spelt Kanayama, with an a. So it was adopted after originally the mistake wasn't noticed. So rather than try and explain the mis-spelling and have another stamp made, he simply went with it, thus it is, was known as 'Kanayama' and stayed that way. So you can see why I questioned Fendrihan over the different stamp and different spelling. So, as of now, we might have to concede Jimmy was right....again...

Well-Done! I had it bass-acwards! Told you I could be wrong!
My memory tells me something inaccurate at times!

Happy to be wrong as I am set straight!

I happen to be looking at this thread the other day and showed my wife, "hey look, strop socks, isn't that cool?" I wasn't really expecting her to think twice about them, much less make some. She came home today with some fabric and whipped up these!

You have a keeper there for sure. Mate, you really need to get her some flowers, that is fantastic. I did actually think about the strop coverings after I bought a Kanayama #80000, that has its black vinyl cover. To be honest, I didn't think that the #80000 was $70 bucks better than the #70000, only difference I saw was the cover.

Originally Posted by xiaotuzi

I happen to be looking at this thread the other day and showed my wife, "hey look, strop socks, isn't that cool?" I wasn't really expecting her to think twice about them, much less make some. She came home today with some fabric and whipped up these!

Very cool! Before long, you will be able to recognize what is each sock! I have luggage tags at the top of mine till I do!