Thread: Ranking of strop materials

If you want a shell strop, have a look at The Superior Shave. He occasionally has Horween shell strops made by Walkin' Horse. I have the 2" wide one with the raw linen back; really prefer that linen texture to tightly woven linen or cotton. Many folks say to splurge on a 3" width; I have 2.5" strops mostly, but don't miss that half inch at all when I use my shell strop. You just X-stroke.

As far as preferences for what I have at hand, I far prefer the Horween shell to my Illinois 127, which is steerhide. I like my latigo the least. For pastes, I use wool felt on the SRP modular paddle.

Best wishes and happy shopping.

I have a 3" Walking Horse Shell Cordovan strop made from Horween shell. I believe Jarrod at The Superior Shave is the exclusive distributor of these. They're hard to get. You never know when he's getting them and when he does, there are usually only a few and go fast. All you can do is check his website regularly.

My Walking Horse horsebutt is my favorite strop and it has a very light draw. I assume the SRD horsebutt strop is comparable, since they're both made from Horween horsehide.

My favorite cowhide strop is the Tony Miller premium steerhide. It has the lightest draw of any cowhide strop I've tried.

I have some 3" strops, and my favorite cheap piece of horse butt hanging strop, I had that at 3" originally, too, but I cut it back to 2" and I like it better. 2 or 2 1/2 would be fine.

After this manic shift of ideas today, and some private suggestions, I'm going to get a kanayama 80000. I know when they'll be in stock, and I might be dead (from the wife) after it arrives, but it is what it is...right? Sometimes you can control the monster, and sometimes you just have to feed it.

If shells were $100, I'd go that route, but it doesn't sound like they are, so I am going to (for once) do the smart thing and open the wallet and let someone else do the work.

Originally Posted by DaveW

It's interesting that Neil dislikes most what I like most. I'm guessing a hard card-like leather with no draw could easily describe horse butt strips when you get them. They are hard, abrasive, and no draw.

But once broken in they become glassy, super smooth and with....no draw. I have not ever been a big fan of heavy drawing leather, though I do have a bunch of cowhide strops that I tried, some with heavy draw, and didn't like. Maybe I didn't let them break in long enough.

But I love what a glassy horse butt strop does for the edge of a razor. Everyone has their preference, of course. There's no way a strop maker could sell a rough hard horse butt strop untreated to a user where the cohort would include a lot of beginners. But I didn't do anything on mine other than bend it a few times, but about 10 drops of neatsfoot on it and use it over the course of a month. Within about 15 strops, it had lost enough aggression to surpass all of my cowhide strops and within a month, the cowhide strops went to the back of the closet for good.

I have seen other barber literature that described the horse butt undesirable because of the glossy surface and lack of draw. Maybe I'm too lazy for draw! I'm definitely too cheap to buy a pre-made shell strop.

Just for the sake of clarification:

I used to make strops from horse-hide, but as Dave guessed they didn't go down too well with newbies. I then 'broke-in" the horsehide before making the strops, but they looked like second-user strops at the end of the process and I wasn't happy with the appearance, although they served their function very well indeed. I reserve horse-hide for paddles now. I did make mention in Obie's article about 'breaking-in' FWIW!

My use of the term 'card-like' in the article was a bit vague, I suppose. By using it I did not mean just the 'hardness' of the leather, but it's similarities with thick card. there are a lot of strops - mainly of eastern origin and found on Ebay, that have this characteristic. The leather used looks like it is a cowhide split, very close to the flesh side, which has been rolled under pressure and surface treated to give it smooth even surface. They don't flex very much, and the fibres look large, which is a sign that we are using the last usable split before we get to the stuff used for making suede - the fibres are naturally looser than nearer the surface and appear coarser, which is why they are pressure treated to give them more cohesion and strength. However, the strops made from such leather are not mechanically strong - attempt to bend them too much and at best you will get some surface crazing, at worst some cracking. They are cheap rubbish.

Horse-hide, on the other hand, is of a completely different nature, the fibres being more akin to muscle fibres - strong, cohesive, fine and regular. It will bend. In the old days strops made from it were broken-in by hand at the factory if they were premium strops - you had to do it yourself if they were regular strops. The breaking-in originally consisted of bending the strop leather over something smooth, like a fixed roller. and pulling it back and forth - for hours. No doubt they automated the process at some point.

I don't dislike horse-hide or shell - or any strop with minimum draw. In fact I like them - a lot. The reason I don't use them much is that they are expensive and I strop an awful lot of razors each week, razors that I hone for other people as well as my own, together with half-round leather 'head' knives, gravers, skiving knives, etc. The razors don't do much damage but it accumulates with any little slip - like my neighbour unexpectedly knocking on my window while I was stropping or my wife yelling her lungs out at me when she has discovered some (real or imaginary) misdemeanour on my part without any attempt of forewarning me. Not BIG misdemeanours mind you: cigar ash, the unexplained absence of liquor bottles from their accustomed places and asking her mother where she has parked the broomstick all count for a stealth verbal assault. The very small knifes and those with very curving blades tend to slice things up a bit. So I use an equally good, but cheaper leather.

Regards,
Neil

Thanks for the clarification, Neil. I agree that the ballgame is different making strops, it's easy to be patient breaking in your own if you make it but not so easy as a newbie buyer looking for instant gratification.

I do keep cowhide in my shop for the same reasons you described, small blades, sharp corners on them, little metal particles unknowingly getting embedded, etc. It's nice to ruin cowhide rather than horse butt strips, and cowhide is definitely easier (for me at least) to work with in cutting out the odd strop that may be used for chisels or some shop knife.

As for the transgressions, nothing seems out of line to me! But I get the same reaction from my wife and have to remind her that sometimes I am holding a razor when she slams doors open or tests her vocal limits. Just don't use my line.."I don't see how you could possibly hassle me over this when I am only telling the truth". "this" could be anything, from MIL, to SIL to wife's friends. Always act surprised, though, as my dad taught me, at least you know what you're in trouble for if you don't try to fix any of your behavior (esp. when it doesn't need fixing).

I am glad to have missed the asian strops.

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

like my neighbour unexpectedly knocking on my window while I was stropping or my wife yelling her lungs out at me when she has discovered some (real or imaginary) misdemeanour on my part without any attempt of forewarning me. Not BIG misdemeanours mind you: cigar ash, the unexplained absence of liquor bottles from their accustomed places and asking her mother where she has parked the broomstick all count for a stealth verbal assault.

Originally Posted by DaveW

But I get the same reaction from my wife and have to remind her that sometimes I am holding a razor when she slams doors open or tests her vocal limits. Just don't use my line.."I don't see how you could possibly hassle me over this when I am only telling the truth". "this" could be anything, from MIL, to SIL to wife's friends. Always act surprised, though, as my dad taught me, at least you know what you're in trouble for if you don't try to fix any of your behavior .

.

This sounds way to familiar to me as well........... that why ever since the incident, when i shave or strop in the bathroom the door is closed and locked and the fan is running on high to mute all the other noise and yelling.

Guys! Thanks for a very good thread! It is so nice to know that there are others that like a minimum draw on their strops.
For those that are interested a good read about tanning and finishing leather is the book

Leather Technicians Handbook by
J.H. Sharphouse

Leather Producers Association
9 St. Thomas Street
London SE1
1971

Very techie and covers many types of leather.

I got an answer from horween. they have a bunch of different sized shells, but they are somewhere around $80-$90 a square foot for shell cordovan except the biggest shells which are a little more. Their retail group (tannery row) will help with (pick) shells that are longer and more appropriate for strops.

I think I am going to try one of the smaller shells and see if I can get a couple of strops out of it, as well as get the kanayama.

Total piggishness.

Originally Posted by DaveW

I got an answer from horween. they have a bunch of different sized shells, but they are somewhere around $80-$90 a square foot for shell cordovan. Their retail group (tannery row) will help with (pick) shells that are longer and more appropriate for strops.

I think I am going to try one of the smaller shells and see if I can get a couple of strops out of it, as well as get the kanayama.

Total piggishness.

Let me know how you make out with the shells. I was tempted to buy one to buy one to make a couple strops and use the left overs for watch straps etc. I had assumed that the smaller shells would be shorter length and not useable length for a strop, but if they told you otherwise I'd be interested to hear.

I just got off of the phone with them, burgundy and some darker color yet are the colors that are available right now (the preferred colors for other stuff might be harder to get), I don't care if my strop is burgundy.

Takes a few weeks to get a shell, but once mine comes in, I will repost to this or make a new post. From talking to the guy at tannery row, they are not unfamiliar with what we want to make a strop, even on the retail side (where the pictures look more like wallets and stuff).

The longest #2 shells, which are 1.75 square feet, are about 25 inches long, so figure something a little under 25 inches for the longest strop you could get, and since they are sort of an oval shape, perhaps 2 of slightly shorter than that. We'll see. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.