Thread: Vintage shell strops and couple of horse hide

Learner, from what I understand shell is the layer of muscle under the skin(leather). So horse hide is any other part of the horse. In the shell part they actually scrape the leather off to reveal the shell. Horses use that muscle to get flies off of them.

Originally Posted by Learner

Are Shell and horse hide the same? Shell, I think comes from the rump of a horse. Where else on the horse would "horse hide" come from?

I suppose from anywhere on the horse's hide a usable area is.
We could look that up here. Just horsehide is a great vintage strop as well, IMO.

Oh! we got it.

I'm with you on that Sharpton, I mainly use the horse hide on my wedges or heavier grinds, I like the heavier draw on them even though it is not much different it does seem to lend itself for those razors. You can easily use what you have but sinse I have the two kinds I do tend to favor that sequence.
Jnatcat, it's funny because the last strop on my list is a Kanayama 70000. Just because I have realy gained so much respect for a man doing it for so long and 150 year history with his family. Others make good strops but for me I would go for a Kanayama.

OHO! I thinks I see a trade?

Seriously, some strops are reserved for finer grinds.
Still, Bridle is as effective as shell as is boarhide.

It's all about the variety for me. Sometimes, only a fine vintage shell will do.
I have this Wagner Shell.......I digress.

Sharpton we think alike, I like my vintage strops alot and do prefer to use them. The Kanayama to me would be like icing on the cake. I realy don't need it but I just want it.
His history with strops is what makes me want to have one. Just out of respect for his contributions to our benifit, and I could use it on special occasions!

Oh yeah! You need several of those!

Yes, that Red Imp is top of the line. You can pay more for a strop easily for new ones but when it comes to the blade meeting the leather you can get no better period. I have one myself.

Some of those old ones and some of the vintage Duble Duck Strops are nice beefy strops.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Yes, that Red Imp is top of the line. You can pay more for a strop easily for new ones but when it comes to the blade meeting the leather you can get no better period. I have one myself

You would not be biased, would you?

I would like to add that the 44-20 Russion 505 is very thick too. It is only about half a mm(.020) less thick than my Red Imp 700c. Verry nice strop if you come across one. It also has nice second made out of thick fire hose material.
Thebigspendur I would like to ask you and others if you have felt this or not. I notice when stroping that I tend to favor 6/8-7/8 razors on the thicker shell strops and the 3/8-4/8 razors on the thinner shell. The 5/8 can go on either one. I know you can use any size on whatever thickness you want but it some how seems more intuative(easier). Your thought on this please. Thanks guys!

I Always use heavier draw leathers on the heavy wedges, esp after honing.
In fact, I am a proponent of progressive stropping off the hones from heavier to lighter draw leathers.
On thinly-ground blades, I begin my progression on lighter draws than I do wedges.

Indeed, the thin ones tend to bog down on heavy-draws to me, So I like to match the blade to the leather.
I am usually in a rush in the AM, so my universal is red bridle on a Lipshaw Strop.
As time allows, I enjoy trying different hanging strops with different blades/grinds.
It's all about finding a nice stropping experience.
Subjective, I think.