Thread: Kanayama Cordovan Strop 90000 - Not the quality it used to be

I have a 70k about 7 years old, No issues. My go to is an old russian shell that i got on the bay for $20.

Originally Posted by Bill31521

I have a 70k about 7 years old, No issues. My go to is an old russian shell that i got on the bay for $20.

My old one also has no issues, this one is pretty much a waste of money. My old strop by Naomi San is the best strop I've ever used.

I'm just not having good luck with strops.
I also have a custom strop made by a highly regarded strop maker and the leather is filled with micro-tears. Hmpfz.



Guess both my supposedly high-end strops are going into my woodworking shop, such a waste of money.

I don’t think Naomi San is the one making them any more, it’s a shame, one of my best strops

Yep, I have a 90K I bought several years ago and it's a work of art.

How was it shipped? Sometimes shipping can do bad things to strops if not done properly.

Something looks strange at the top clamp in the 2nd picture. If the top clamp is bent uneven, it will cause waves which will run down the strop.
If my strop is cupping, I pull it tight and cup it the other way by squeezing the sides with the other hand so the sides are low and the center is high. I then pull my hand down the strop maintaining the upwards cup several times.
Some never need it, but some do frequently. Mostly my thinner strops do this.
A matter of 'training' the leather

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Something looks strange at the top clamp in the 2nd picture. If the top clamp is bent uneven, it will cause waves which will run down the strop.
If my strop is cupping, I pull it tight and cup it the other way by squeezing the sides with the other hand so the sides are low and the center is high. I then pull my hand down the strop maintaining the upwards cup several times.
Some never need it, but some do frequently. Mostly my thinner strops do this.
A matter of 'training' the leather

I have removed the clamp and been manipulating the leather as you said.
I'm hesitantly positive that it will eventually even out, the strop itself is very supple and feels like it will mold towards an acceptable shape.

The surface itself doesn't feel nearly as good as my old one.

Rubbing over it it feels like a film of dried up dirt/residue is on it.
Not glassy smooth as my old one, and near the upper part of the strop it becomes much thinner and the leather feels pretty bad there.
I've been literally scraping it slowly with the edge of a razor and it's getting slowly better.
You can feel a ton of small dots on the surface, it's pretty bad. After carefully scraping, the majority of the stropping surface starts to feel decent though, still stiff, but getting better, I'm hopeful.

Interestingly when scraping it's like a clear coat is coming off, shiny little pieces.

I'm curious how it will eventually turn out, but I do think there's a nice piece of leather in there somewhere. But for now I'm not putting my daily shavers on it.

Daily rubbing and some light scraping will have to do, microfiber cloths don't help and scraping is a must to even and smooth out the texture. Still very poor quality for the 90000 or any Kanayama for that matter. Uneven thickness, rough texture, cupping, hard & dirty feeling stropping surface. It was the last 90000 in stock when I bought it, probably for a reason.

Remove the strop from the clamp and lay it flat on like a counter top and then take a warm damp cotton cloth and wipe not rub in either an upward or downward direction and keep doing this while keeping the cotton cloth damp and when the strop is damp completely thru flip it over and lay a flat board on it and add some weight and let it sit over night, you may have to do this a few times but it should fix the problem.

After it’s dry clamp it back in the hardware but don’t overly tighten and then with a cupped hand just give it some good rubs everytime you pass by it, cupping hand will slowly force the leather to get a crown that will flatten when using

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Yep, I have a 90K I bought several years ago and it's a work of art.

How was it shipped? Sometimes shipping can do bad things to strops if not done properly.

It was shipped well.

BUT the box it was shipped in was not damaged, the box of the strop itself had a dent in it and the strop itself was also dented. Like the box was stored against the leg of a storage shelf.

So I do blame the vendor for bad or no QC before shipping. Luckily these strops are very supple and it didn't look like it caused permanent damage.
Silly me for not immediately sending it back, but ack, can't change that now. That's on me.