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

Mine is the same as yours in the photo..
I rarely use the suede but i swear by the linen.. I have softened mine many times though..
Thanks.

I do not have a 9000 but do have a few vintage Kanayama and strop daily on two sets, regularly strop on linen, suede, then leather especially with freshly honed razors.

My strops look nothing like yours. They are dark, soft, and very slick. I have oiled them with neetsfoot and/or olive oil and clean them daily before each use.

The vintage linen well washed, rolled and stretched is the prize. Love the Kanayama linen. I have both the vintage Brown and Cream linen and cannot tell any difference between the two in performance.

It is often recommended to polish Cordovan shoes with a polished deer bone to remove scratches and creases in the vamp of a shoe. You burnish the shell, smooth, and force the stuffed oils to the surface.

Waxing with a high-quality shoe paste wax is also recommended for shoes. I have waxed veg tanned calfskin strops as an experiment with Goddard’s, quality furniture paste wax with interesting results. Vintage Goddard’s is Bees wax, mineral and lemon oil. I have several tins of vintage Goddard’s Lemon cabinet makers wax squirreled away, it is no longer in production.

I have never used a bone, but reindeer antler is readily available from any pet store as dog chew. It can easily be sanded smooth and polished to a high sheen with any good metal polish or a buffer and Stainless Green compound. I have used it on shoes with good results.

Polished Deer bones are available for sale from quality shoe merchants but are pricy. I would imagine stropping a razor as you have done, is doing pretty much the same thing.

Sad that the quality of these strops is fading fast. Looking at the photos of your strop, on vintage Kanayama the strop edges appear to have been waxed and burnished, the new strops roughly cut.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

My strops look nothing like yours. They are dark, soft, and very slick. I have oiled them with neetsfoot and/or olive oil and clean them daily before each use.

Sad that the quality of these strops is fading fast. Looking at the photos of your strop, on vintage Kanayama the strop edges appear to have been waxed and burnished, the new strops roughly cut.

Indeed, my newer strop is also lighter in color, the edges are indeed roughly cut and not nicely finished as the older one.

When taking off the metal hanger, underneath is really what tells all for me. My newer one feels very rough, not only there but in other parts of the strop as well.

My older one was nicely finished over the entire strop, even when I remove the metal hanger now, it has a superb piece of leather underneath; high quality, very high standards.

The difference in stropping feel is night and day. I'm still very reluctant of putting any of my good razors on it as it feels like it'll damage my edge by the debris that comes off.

The European vendor I bought my 90K from was also much more expensive than the US vendors, but I figured given the quality of these strops that it was worth it. Pretty bummed, I only wanted a replacement or back-up strop for my older Kanayama, but I guess it'll be very hard to find one that's up to standard.
I've had many other strops, even custom made, but none have done it for me like the old Kanayama did, which remains my only strop in use.

Here is my Kanayama 50k that I purchased from a chap in the UK several years back, he had it on a shelf for several years and was closing shop and we struck a deal on it and it’s like stopping on glass

The other strops I use (L>R) are Westholme Cordovan, Scrupleworks HH, kanayama 50 and TM. Spanish Birdle.

I was thinking about the OP and remembered I to had purchased a Kanayama years ago from Aframes and it stropped nothing like the vintage one I currently use, if I remember the color was lighter and had the same makings but the stopping had a gritty somewhat muddy draw so I sent it back.

As stated I’m sure they are not the same as yesterday and that’s a real shame

Since it's been a month I sent an e-mail to the vendor without hearing anything back, I would like to advise anyone that you order from japanesenaturalstones.com at your own risk. I do not wish to bad mouth anyone, but I will express my disappointment with that shop.

Quality control before shipping his product(s) didn't happen, as there was obvious damage to the box that housed the strop and no damage to the box it was shipped in, and after contacting him his customer service is non existent in my case.

I heard good things about Maxim in the past but I am highly disappointed with his service.
I didn't expect him to fix anything and I didn't request that he did, but just sending an e-mail back would've sufficed to acknowledge the problem with the strop.
Costly mistake.

Sorry to read, real shame. Maxim used to be an active member here. Last post 2013.

I have purchased three strops directly from Kanayama in the last two years.
I literally went to the workshop in Tokyo.They are 80,000 and 90,0000 with
zero issues. Sorry that you had a problem.

It was the last strop in stock, probably for a simple reason. Nobody wanted it, or he couldn't / wouldn't sell it, only as last resort.

I can't comment on others, but whereas they all used to be perfect; I read that a few lesser slip through.

I wish I had ordered from Kanayama directly as I suspect his QC would be good; although import duties and taxes that my country charges are insane so I looked for a European vendor.

Either way. I cut off a piece of the rough feeling leather and keep working the leather with daily palm rubbing and stropping a spare razor on it to smooth it out.
The leather doesn't feel the same as the strop I bought a decade ago, but I feel that it will eventually turn out to be a fine functional strop. All good.

Originally Posted by YokohamaGaijin

I have purchased three strops directly from Kanayama in the last two years.
I literally went to the workshop in Tokyo.They are 80,000 and 90,0000 with
zero issues. Sorry that you had a problem.

How was the leather on them when you bought them new?

I don't understand why mine has a film on it that releases small shiny coating like particles when I strop on it.

Originally Posted by TristanLudlow

I don't understand why mine has a film on it that releases small shiny coating like particles when I strop on it.

Sounds like a layer of dried out leather finish.