Thread: Vintage "Russia Shell" strop [+hardware questions]

AJ Kennedy was selling some on Ebay (Ajkenne4xm3), AJ is also a member here (ajkenne) you might contact him.

JNS (Japan Natural Stone), was also selling, the style that is used on the Kanayama strops.

I have bought old, trashed strops for a dollar or two, just for the hardware, if you shop around you can find them cheap, try Ebay or fleamarkets.

Add water and oil to your strop slowly not more than a ¼ teaspoon at a time and let it soak in 1-4 weeks before adding more.

Originally Posted by benhunt

Thanks for pointing me to that. Fascinating info. I'm now curious to see what a Russian-made "Russia shell" would be like...

I assume the "Russia shell" I got should be actual (horse) shell, but I don't know how to tell for certain. (I have an Illinois cow-hide strop which has a horse head image on it....not literally false advertising, but certainly misleading). Figured this vintage "Russia shell" was worth $7 in any case....

This is a question that is of interest to me as well. Not only Russian Shell, but shell in general. I've got a few old strops marked 'shell' other than the Russians I posted photos of. Now these are old-old strops and if they say 'shell' I assume they must be. What makes me wonder is the thickness of some of them.

Neil Miller's shell was a very thin strop. A couple of my old ones are thin, but a few are thick. That thick versus thin thing is what has me stumped. In thinking about it, back in the olden days when there were still dray horses and what not, there was no shortage of material.

Part of the horse went to the glue factory, part to the dog food factory, and the hides & shell probably went to the shoe and strop makers. That is my assumption anyway, that there was a lot more material available in bygone days. So if it is marked shell it probably is. AFAIK, most vintage strops from those days were either horsehide, or shell. Not much bovine used for strops in those day .......... I think.

I have two Russian horse shell strops. Both have a light draw, similar to English Bridal leather. One in particular holds interest for me since it is stamped with my last name. As far as I can tell, no relation and a seller of barber goods at the turn of the 20th century.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

This is a question that is of interest to me as well. Not only Russian Shell, but shell in general. I've got a few old strops marked 'shell' other than the Russians I posted photos of. Now these are old-old strops and if they say 'shell' I assume they must be. What makes me wonder is the thickness of some of them.

Neil Miller's shell was a very thin strop. A couple of my old ones are thin, but a few are thick. That thick versus thin thing is what has me stumped. In thinking about it, back in the olden days when there were still dray horses and what not, there was no shortage of material.

Part of the horse went to the glue factory, part to the dog food factory, and the hides & shell probably went to the shoe and strop makers. That is my assumption anyway, that there was a lot more material available in bygone days. So if it is marked shell it probably is. AFAIK, most vintage strops from those days were either horsehide, or shell. Not much bovine used for strops in those day .......... I think.

That makes sense. Though even where dead horse bits were less rare, the actual shell area is a fairly small bit of hide compared to an entire horse. And I don't know how strict labelling regulations would have been at the time, so I still wonder.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

I have two Russian horse shell strops. Both have a light draw, similar to English Bridal leather. One in particular holds interest for me since it is stamped with my last name. As far as I can tell, no relation and a seller of barber goods at the turn of the 20th century.

Are these "made in Russia" Russian horse shell strops or "made in the Russian style" horse shell strops? And how would one determine this?

I haven't used English Bridal, so I can't compare to that, but the vintage "Russia style" strop I have does have a different draw from my bovine (but horse-head marked) Illinois strop.

Originally Posted by benhunt

Are these "made in Russia" Russian horse shell strops or "made in the Russian style" horse shell strops? And how would one determine this?

I haven't used English Bridal, so I can't compare to that, but the vintage "Russia style" strop I have does have a different draw from my bovine (but horse-head marked) Illinois strop.

Just giving it some thought. The Russian Revolution was in 1917 IIRC. Followed by the Russian civil war which lasted a few years. Lenin and Stalin probably weren't exporting much of anything I suppose, and I doubt if the USA would have wanted anything from the Soviet Union. So if it were a Russian made strop it probably would have had to have come out of the Czarist era. This article leaves doubt in my mind that there would have been much biz between us and them ;
Economy, Tsarist – FREE Economy, Tsarist information | Encyclopedia.com: Find Economy, Tsarist research

Wikipedia on Soviet foreign trade shows dismal statistics as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreig...e_Soviet_Union

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Just giving it some thought. The Russian Revolution was in 1917 IIRC. Followed by the Russian civil war which lasted a few years. Lenin and Stalin probably weren't exporting much of anything I suppose, and I doubt if the USA would have wanted anything from the Soviet Union. So if it were a Russian made strop it probably would have had to have come out of the Czarist era. This article leaves doubt in my mind that there would have been much biz between us and them ;
Economy, Tsarist – FREE Economy, Tsarist information | Encyclopedia.com: Find Economy, Tsarist research

Wikipedia on Soviet foreign trade shows dismal statistics as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreig...e_Soviet_Union

I didn't see anything that would rule out possible export of strops. Even if not direct trade perhaps via Germany. I also don't know that trade would have ceased after the Revolution; Cold War didn't start until much later. Though it is conceivable that strop making in Russia steeply declined after the Revolution.

In any case, if US strop makers began emulating Russian strops, some number of Russian strops must have entered the US at some point.