Thread: kanayama/linen

question for kanayama owners.
do you guys use the linen ?

i have the 50000 kanayama strop.

i've always used tm linen before leather .

I'm not sure if about using the kanayama linen it seems a little rough /harsh to be using.

I use it. It seems OK to me but I do share your reservations to some extent.

I use the linen on my Kanayama daily. Of course, it's the only linen strop I own... It's also my first strop with linen so I have no comparison...

I use the Kanayama Linen for quite a while now on a daily basis.
Yes, the webbing is quite rough and the sound of stropping on it can be quite horrifying,
but I never found evidence for a bad influence on the blade.

To be honest, I kind of love it!

I would recommend stropping on the kanayama linen, if one wants to.
Anything about my Llama is just great

It's actually touted as being a unique and superior stropping surface. Is that true? I don't know. I have one and also a TM linen and canvas and they all seem to do a similar job.

The roughness of the surface doesn't seem to be a negative. I've got a Craftsman with a rougher textured linen component that is the most effective linen strop I've got.

My Kanayama 90,000 remains NIB so I can't speak for the linen. The vintage strops I have, about a dozen, like any normal person, have a much stiffer linen than any of the currently produced stuff I've seen.

I was concerned about the texture of mine too. A few passes with a card brush (for cleaning steel files) transformed it.

I use my Kanayama on half of my razors and Neil Millers linen on the other half. Both strops do amazing work. I like them equally and use both because I have both.
Remember, a Kanayama product is a reflection of one of the world's foremost strop makers, literally a legend. His strops are there to use, enjoy the product.

I really like the linen on the Kanayama, it works very well to maintain the edge on my razors (though I've only had it for 2 months, so far it's done a great job)

I guess I do not understand the concern about the linen. Sure it's not traditional cotton or linen like we're used to, but there's nothing to be afraid of - why would such an accomplished stropmaker sell a product that would damage a razor's edge?