Thread: Premium I, The Stropping Truth

Okay, so maybe not shocking, but I got to visit Mr. Abrams again. One of the finest pleasures of my weekend, and very beneficial. The man is a gold-mine of information, living 20 minutes away from him is great!

Anyways, I'm going to try and keep this short. Lynn gave me a more in depth trip through his Leather Laboratory -The upstairs bathroom- and, man, there's enough strops in there to DROWN in! Full of vintage, SRD, and other makes, this place was a dream for someone like myself, someone who wants to find the best strop they can, but doesn't know enough to make a decision. Well, I have a TM Latigo, and a TM Horsehide, they are wonderful wonderful strops, and Mr Abrams let me play with his Vintage Shell leathers, latigos, horse hide, steer hide, you name it, I got a hands on with it. EVERYTHING. It was a little overwhelming, however, by and far, I got one thing to say.

Bridle Leather + Premium I = a razors edge so sharp it scares me to use it.

Long has it been lauded that Horsehide is the perfect finisher, with it's smooth, light draw, and excellent polish, and that, after a more hardy leather, it makes a brilliant edge.

Move over Horsehide. The premium I feels broken in from the moment you touch it, to the day you die -if you take care of it, of course... duh-. At first glance on SRD, I was curious why they would refer to these strops as Premium, then I got my Bridle. I decided the name was THOROUGHLY merited and deserved. However, the Bridle is Premium IV. Surely all the strops before this one couldn't be such works of art. Well, my good gentlemen, they ARE. The Premium I redefines premium. It is the most amazing finish I have ever seen a razor get. And I saw Mr. Abrams take a razor that I would almost be unwilling to shave with, and go from Bridle to Premium I. Well, I still wouldn't shave with it, but only because the edge scared the pants off me.

I have rarely been able to feel results with the TPT... Too much callous, or my fingers just aren't sensitive enough. Well, this razor taught me what I'm supposed to feel. It was scary to have my thumb on that. It really was.

Wow. That was much longer than I meant it to be.

Bottom Line: Premium I: Impressive beyond measure, The best finishing strop I've ever seen, and I saw it tested against countless other amazing quality strops (and, if anyone tries to jump to this conclusion, it couldn't have been Mr. Abrams trying to create a bias by stropping "better" on the SRD than the rest. He let me, personally, try every one of the strops. Bar none, Not a single one could compare to the Premium I's results)

Okay. I'm done. I promise.

Cheers,
Jeremy