Thread: Anyone know any good European strop companies?

Originally Posted by Impaler41

You mean new old stock that sounds fantastic, I'd love some prices!

I'll check for you

Edit : done, I asked the owner, I'll tell you if she answer.

Much appreciated!

Originally Posted by celticcrusader

There is something to be said for older strops if you can get them in good condition, all modern leather is mostly taken from beef bred animals and quite young animals at that, were past makers used fallen animals including old well worked hardy bred draught Horses with much thicker hides and over develop hind quarters the shells on these Horses were thick and strong, Kanayama Cordovan shell can be 4 even 5mm thick that's very difficult to find makes me think Mr Naomi-san of Kanayama as a very old and trusted supplier of these shells.

You know, I'm not all that sure the kanayama strops are cordovan shell. I know I have a pair of Cordovan Shell Shoes and I have the Raven Strop and the leather is exactly the same on the strop as my shoes meaning appearance and feel and my kanayama 90K is totally different. If it is Cordovan then the processing of the material produces a whole different animal so to speak.

Originally Posted by celticcrusader

There is something to be said for older strops if you can get them in good condition, all modern leather is mostly taken from beef bred animals and quite young animals at that, were past makers used fallen animals including old well worked hardy bred draught Horses with much thicker hides and over develop hind quarters the shells on these Horses were thick and strong, Kanayama Cordovan shell can be 4 even 5mm thick that's very difficult to find makes me think Mr Naomi-san of Kanayama as a very old and trusted supplier of these shells.

Funny you bring this up. I have a half dozen vintage strops marked Shell. They are not all thick, but some are. Others are thin along the lines of Neil Miller's shell. I have a couple of C-Mons marked shell that are quite thick, and though it is not marked 'shell' on the strop, the Certifyd Red Imp is advertised as shell in a catalog and it is thicker than the thin stuff. So ......... I'm going to take some pix tomorrow of the edges of these and post them so you see what I mean. BTW, I figure the thick ones marked shell must be, or they wouldn't have marked them as such back then ........

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

You know, I'm not all that sure the kanayama strops are cordovan shell. I know I have a pair of Cordovan Shell Shoes and I have the Raven Strop and the leather is exactly the same on the strop as my shoes meaning appearance and feel and my kanayama 90K is totally different. If it is Cordovan then the processing of the material produces a whole different animal so to speak.

I don't have cordovan shell shoes, nor do I have the Raven strop, but I know what you mean about the Kanayama 90,000. I had the 90 and sold it, regretted it and bought a NOS 80,000 made in that same time frame, when Zeth Lent first posted about them here. They are quite thick. As far as feel I don't know. Zeth did say that they were cordovan, but I don't remember if he specified 'shell'. Whatever it is, it is a heckuva strop.

A thought.....At times such as this, I really miss Neil Miller. Sorry! Carry on!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

A thought.....At times such as this, I really miss Neil Miller. Sorry! Carry on!

Tom in the words of the master himself.

Choosing and Using a Straight Razor - pt 2, Strops | The Shaving Room

Fendrihan sells the kanayama's and he lists them as Bovine. I don't know why there is this lack of knowledge as to what the strop is made from.

There are companies in the UK some of the oldest tanneries in Europe who still produce shell after all the UK makes the finest bespoke shoes in the world so why wouldn't they have great leather producers as well makes sense.

Shell Cordovan, Cordovan Leather, Clayton Cordovan

J&FJ Baker & Co Ltd | Britain's only remaining traditional oak bark tannery | Colyton, Devon

Apparently only five digits Kanayama are made from cordovan. (So a Kanayama "3" won't be, whereas a Kanayama "30.000" will be).

The difference between the 30.000, 40.000 ..... 90.000 is the thickness of the cordovan, and the add of a bovine strop for the highest numbers (it's not a question of grit).

I have a video talking about the fabrication of kanayamas somewhere, I'll post it when I'll find it.

edit : well, sadly it was too old, the video is gone.

Originally Posted by celticcrusader

Tom in the words of the master himself.

Choosing and Using a Straight Razor - pt 2, Strops | The Shaving Room

Thanks for posting this. I bookmarked the site. Neil had so much "real" knowledge about leather, strops, and a lot of other things. It's funny how remembered and missed he is.