Thread: Vintage shell strops and couple of horse hide

Originally Posted by Toroblanco

One thing i would like to add is for rehabind a stiff old strop that worked well is a five inch round stock phillips screwdriver of good quality that has been heat treated, then finished to a 400 wet/dry sandpaper (the screwdriver not the strop)and for final buff with a horse hair brush(on the strop). Hope this helps someone.Attachment 285162I use a English horse hair that does a very nice job.

This is the kind of info I was looking for. Thank you!

Originally Posted by Toroblanco

One thing i would like to add is for rehabind a stiff old strop that worked well is a five inch round stock phillips screwdriver of good quality that has been heat treated, then finished to a 400 wet/dry sandpaper (the screwdriver not the strop)and for final buff with a horse hair brush(on the strop). Hope this helps someone.Attachment 285162I use a English horse hair that does a very nice job.

I don't understand how the 5" round, heat treated Philips screwdriver comes into play???

Not sure but maybe for rolling on the fave f the strop to limber it back up, I have used a smooth round glass bottle in the past, it I guess burnishes the strop surface. Tc

You do it like this. I got this idea from Pablo from another forum before it went under. I tried the bottle trick but found two thing I did not like. One is the bottle must be perfectly smooth, free of any tiny air bubbles(that is a lot harder to do than you think) as they scratch the leather. Another thing was it was hard to get a cofortable hold on the bottle and my hand are not small. The screwdriver is more intuative and your hand gets less fatigued. It is easier to vary your preasure better overall in my experience. Hope this helps! Man it was crazy hard to take that picture. I only have two hands. Lol! Love that Cali weather though!

congratulations!!! those are 4 winners! beautiful strops man!

Gabriel you can see the quality in your work. Very Nice! Keep it up! Saludos!

Love these old strops as well. Can’t seem to have enough. I enjoy restoring them as well. These are some of my favorites. Always on the hunt for the Certifyd logos brand. Russia shell is also a favorite. Just to share. Thanks, Austin

Sweet line-up, Austin!
That Certifyd stamp really got around, eh?

Not saying he made them all, but Kanoyama had a Certifyd stamp. Llama was one of his brands as well.
A few NOS ones I have (and other's examples as well) came with Certifyd stamps and Red Imp wrappers on the strops. Direct from Japan!
I know...It says made USA....The leather, anyway!

Tom, I suspect there is some relationship between Kanayama and Certifyd and LLama Brand but not sure on the specifics. Some previous discussion on this topic by you and others in SRP but still don’t understand the the specifics. Don’t believe my Llama Brand with Certifyd stamp was made by him. It is nice and thick 4-5mm but has classics USA made hardware vice his swooping silver flowering hardware. On the other hand my Kintaka with Certifyd probably was made by him. The Llama Brand Is a beautiful strop nonetheless. Maybe others have insights on this mystery relationship or is it lost to history?

Originally Posted by ajkenne

Tom, I suspect there is some relationship between Kanayama and Certifyd and Camel brand but not sure on the specifics. Some previous discussion on this topic by you and others in SRP but still don’t understand the the specifics. Don’t believe my Camel brand with Certifyd stamp was made by him. It is nice and thick 4-5mm but has classics USA made hardware vice his swooping silver flowering hardware. On the other hand my Kintaka with Certifyd probably was made by him. The Came Brand Is a beautiful strop nonetheless. Maybe others have insights on this mystery relationship or is it lost to history?

Oh, but yours is a Llama, Austin! The Kintaka definitely has the hardware.
Still, The old guy made strops for a very long time. Even before, I understand it was a family business. Just like razors, Blanks for concaving, unstamped blades, etc were shipped all over the world.
Just the leather component could be done and sold.
Leather was imported, hardware could be imported. Fabric components and hardware.
Over the years there were shortages, esp after WWII.
Most anything was done, likely.

But that Certifyd stamp....It's there!
Put on to sell to Americans!
I have some more with it. I will try to get them on here.