Thread: Leather Types

I'm new to strops. I've only got one and its cheap (and it isn't that great, but I have no other experience to base it against). Let's start there. I have been looking at the Illinois 827 strop lately. As such, I was comparing it to the Illinois 127 to see what the differences were, if any. From what I can tell the only difference is that the 827 costs around 5-8 bucks more and is made of "Imperial" leather instead of what ever type of leather that the company usually uses.

This made me wonder - what is "Imperial" supposed to mean? That got me thinking about other strops I have seen advertised and all the fancy types of leather that they are made of. "English bridle?" "Latigo?" Realistically, aren't they all cowhide, with the exception of maybe some horsehide? Furthermore, does my razor's edge know the difference?

Now I'm not trying to suggest that all leather is the same, and I'm guessing that a cheap, pressed with glue leather strop wouldn't work as well as a top of the line strop made of exotic Ethiopian water buffalo, but are there really functional differences between different types of leather as long as they originate from reputable vendors? If so, what have you used that worked well (e.g. is the expensive "English bridle" really worth it?)