Thread: Frustrated with my Illinois 127

I got an Illinois 127 and am not happy with it at all. When I first got it, it was cupped pretty bad and had no grab at all. After a lot of work, I got rid of the cupping and it has decent grab, but its wavy. Most of the wave comes out when I hold it tight for stropping, but the top part still has a some wave to it and does not give good contact with the razor at all.

For this reason, I can only really strop with the lower half and am kind of fed up with it. It was one of the cheaper strops I could find, and am feeling I am getting what I paid for and should probably invest in a better strop.

What is holding me back at this point is the thought that this might be normal for a new strop, and is something to work though.

Here is what I've done.
Lather it to give it more grab and soften it up.
Bottle strop it well over a thousand times to get rid of the cupping.
Daily "hand stropping" to impart oils into it.

Do you think there is hope for this thing, or should I just get another strop? Of course, another option is to keep the hardware and make my own. At this point, I just want a good strop though, so I might not want to risk making a lousy strop.

my experience with illinois is that they work much better after a couple of months of use

i got 3 of the 206 so i can say that theres a bit of variation from strop to strop
(thickness, soft/hard and scars/fat lumps)
Started out trying to destroy the one that looked worse and now its a clear favorite of those i got

Sorry for all your trouble. Get another one please.

If you are getting pretty frustrated with it, and are ready to get drastic...

Oil the strop thoroughly, and then work in some beeswax & let it soak it in for a few days

wrap in several layers of newspaper, and iron on low heat with as much pressure as you can put on it with fast passes, letting it cool after it heats up to the point of being too hot to hold in your hand.

That should make something happen!

It might sound silly, but I would try sandwiching it between two thick boards or metal plates, and parking my truck on top of it for a weekend. Smash that bugger flat.



Failing that, you have a strop for kitchen knives now, or at least a tug-of-war toy for a dog. heh.

Personally, I would have sent it back.

I would say to get another. It just sounds awful and frustrating. You should reward yourself with a brand new strop. Maybe a Tony strop. I have one and its great. Best of luck with what you do with your Illinois.

I have a strop that curls like that. The tighter I pull, the more it curls. While at Hobby Lobby last night I bought a 4 ounce bottle of leather conditioner for about $5. I really liked the effect of the conditioner on several of my strops. And, it seemed to improve the curl in the one problem strop significantly.

If at all possible send it back for a replacement!

Hello, Markevns:

If it were my strop, I would kindly suggest to myself to either return it for possible replacement or retire it. Life has enough frustration. Why add another one to the rotation?

Regards,
Obie