Originally Posted by
Southbound
Hello folks,
Ive been thinking of getting a Kanayama strop. Ive been reading on the forums about these, and from what i gather they are the best strops. I always read about them on forums as Cordovan horse shell. Although on the websites that sell them lists them as horse hide. I maybe wrong, but I kinda agree they are probably listing them correctly. Genuine shell is hard to source, particularly for strops. The reason why is the shoe companys get first dibs. Its hard to believe that Kanayama can source a shell thats 4mm thick. Although in Japan it may be different. To get a thicker shell you would have to get it from an older horse, and Kanayama uses younger horses.
I know that horse hide and shell is two different parts of the horse. Shell is a muscle under the hide on the horses butt, and horse hide is the actual skin/hide. I know horween shells are 1.5mm these days at the thickest. The term "Cordovan" Kanayama uses could mean the tanning process the leather goes through. From what i hear that Kanayama hand finishes these and they feel similar to shell. Maybe thats why people think that they are genuine shell, because of the slick fast draw. Maybe some of you guys who has experience with the strops could chime in. Again i could be wrong. In the end it really doesn't matter as long as it performs well and does what its supposed to do on the razors apex. My self im thinking of getting a 30000 or a 50000.