Thread: Kanayama draw

Finally bought a kanayama, was put off for years by the description of glassy, almost no draw. It has a lovely magnetic, medium draw similar to Torolf's oil tanned, but a little lighter and nicer.

They are great strops.
If you find it getting really slick wipe it down with a damp rag. There are instructions on their web site.

I have rubbed in some Neatsfoot oil. Only a couple of drops is needed.

Enjoy your new strop!

I've had mine for about 8 years and the draw is still like glass.
I only palm rub it and wipe it down with a clean damp cloth now and again.
I have a Scrupleworks oil tanned strop too and the draw is completely different.
Maybe ol Naomi San is using a different hide

You got you a fine strop. I've enjoyed mine for a few years now. Just wipe the dust off now and then. I've never thought of it as a glassy feel. I have two other strops that feel like snot on a doorknob. Now, that's what I call glassy. Can you say absolute Zero Draw! Not my Kamayama 70k.

Originally Posted by Rog

Finally bought a kanayama, was put off for years by the description of glassy, almost no draw. It has a lovely magnetic, medium draw similar to Torolf's oil tanned, but a little lighter and nicer.

Interesting that you should mention the two.
Fairly close together I bought a Kanayama 70,000 and one of Torolf’s (Scrupleworks) oil-tanned horse hide strops.
I never really warmed up to the Kanayama, but took like a fish to water to the Scrupleworks strop.

Without doubt, the Scrupleworks is now my favourite hanging strop and various SRD and other hanging strops have long be retired.
I gave in to the temptation and even bought a second one of Torolf’s strops, for later use at our new home in Portugal.



B.

Not all of the Kanoyamas are exactly the same in draw, though they’re close. I believe that they are all finished the same, but the leather is not all the same. According to Takeshi, the thinner ones (lower numbers) can come from a younger horse and are softer than the thicker leather from the older horses. The younger horses thing came from Iwasaki’s chapter for barbers in his book. From AFramesTokyo:

‘The horse hide is natural material, and there is no exactly the same horse hide. Kanoyama strop Co. has experienced hardship to find thick high quality horse hide for last a couple years. when Mr. Naomi want to make thickest Cordovan strop (5mm thickness product like #90000), the original horse hide has to have at least 12mm before the manufacturing processes. The thickness of the Cordovan strop is one of quality indicator, and it is not only one determination of the quality. Mr. Naomi decides the quality of the strop in each models of the strops such as the thickness, the color, the softness, smoothness of the strop, the total quality of the strop, etc.

I guess the strop quality is decided the total quality of the strop instead of just the thickness of the strop, therefore, the thickness of the Cordovan strop is just one of the factor to determine the number of the strops.’

I have never put anything on my Kanoyama strops, as recommended by Naomi San, again from Takeshi’s site:

‘According to Mr. Naomi, we should not apply on any oil on Cordovan strop. The oil collects dust, and it makes losing smoothness on the Cordovan strop, and it makes not as the finishing quality strop anymore.’

I’ve noted that if I hand rub, the strop gets dirty. If I don’t hand rub, it doesn’t. Skin oil is salty and the oil just seems to sit on the top of the leather. Stropping on salty, dirty oil: doesn’t sound good to me.

From Iwasaki’s chapter for barbers in his book:

‘Some also spread oil on the strop to soften it, but it’s very common to over-apply oil. In such a case, no matter how you polish the leather it will never become glossy, and it will lose half its edge-polishing power.’

I suggest that everyone read Takeshi’s/Naomi’s instructions for care of cordovan, and read the strop section of Iwasaki’s paper.

http://strazors.com/uploads/images/a...onkamisori.pdf

Kanoyama/Kanayamara are excellent strops, vintage and different models do perform a bit differently. Models were of varying thickness and lengths.

Vintage were a bit thicker than modern, simply because horse flesh and working horse flesh is not as available as it once was. Working horse flesh is thicker, not many working horses this day.

There are a lot of strops in the wild as they made them for other vendors, most used the Kanayamara stamp on the handle end, though often not foil filled. The hardware and the sewn leather handle on the linen are unique and identifiable.

The often-overlooked part of the Kanoyama strops is/are the linen and or the excellent suede leather. Vintage linen is also different from modern, but both are still eceptional, especially for the money.

Oiling is a matter of personal preference, but any leather will eventually need to be rehydrated.

As always when oiling, use oil sparingly, just a few drops for maintenance, though oiling can alter the draw.

Does draw affect the edge performance? Well, technique is probably more important and draw, preference.

I decided to add fittings to the bottom and turn it around . Use it from the other direction for a year or two..
No rubbing or treating, just keep it in a case dust free..

Now that’s interesting!

Originally Posted by Steve56

Now that’s interesting!

The second buckle covered up the part that was worn from holding and now i have some thing to actually hold on to it has extended the length ..Its a win win..