Vote here on your favorite stropping material.
Post and tell us why you like it and what makes it the best option out there. Share pictures, links and information behind them too!
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Vote here on your favorite stropping material.
Post and tell us why you like it and what makes it the best option out there. Share pictures, links and information behind them too!
There are a lot of materials that works well as stropping material.
To me, the Shell Cordovan stands above all others.
I'm not saying that it will give you a sharper razor, or make the edge last longer, just that I prefer the feel and draw on my Shell Cordovans above my others.
I'm with Birnando on the shell cordovan being my favorite. It was also the premium material for the old pro strop makers of yesteryear IIRC.
Horsehide . I prefer the lighter draw , to the latigo that I was using . I also think I get a slightly better edge , but that might be true , only in my imagination .
So , what's yours ?Quote:
Originally Posted by fchan
I've only had a chance to use English Bridle, so my opinion would be heavily biased :)Quote:
Originally Posted by dave5225
I originally started a thread to compare English Bridle to Latigo as I'm looking to get a new strop and those are my 2 options. It ended up being a better poll to post all the major options and see what the popular choice is here and why rather than Latigo vs English Bridle.
Okay, I can't choose two, so I picked Kangaroo strops. But I like my latigo strop as well, I like the resistance for my wedges. I really have no idea whether either one yields a better edge. But now you guys have got me thinking about Cordovan Shell strops now...:mad:
-dave
I love my English bridle. This is my third strop, and for me it's just awesome. It's a 3" with a 21" stroping area. I can't see myself trying anything else until it's cooked or I find an awesome vintage.
I have a bunch, and I like all of them, but there's a few that just stand out, and I use them often. In no particular order they are:
1. Kanayama Cordovan 90,000 (First one made with choice of stamps)
2. Tony Miller Steerhide (Has phenomenal draw)
3. Tony Miller Limited Edition Horsehide 3" (only 8 of these were made, and were not advertised) Draw very similar to Cordovan leather. Not your typical Horsehide.
4. SRD's Premium 1 (This is my favorite, go to strop, has a very supple feel to it.)
5 SRD's Long English Bridle.
I kind of lost my interest in Latigo some time ago. Too much draw for me. These days I like minimal draw. I believe strops and their draw are really personal preference.
I went to our local tack shop and had them cut me a 3.5 x 28" piece of latigo harness leather; $8.00. Cut a handle on it and it works like a charm.
I have several on Microtome strops. All Neil Miller leather. The Bridle with 3 coats of oil is super hard draw. Best to start with heavy blades/wedges. The bridle w/1 coat of oil is great all-around for a heavier draw strop. Both are like velvet.
I particularly like the feel of the European tallow tanned. Harder and firmer, yet pleasant to use. It feels as if it is doing something, and it surely does! Great for larger concaves! I always finish up my after-honing on a russet cowhide strop which I over-oiled a while back. Super light (and oils the bevel good!). I rub it hard with a towel before and after use. The oil is coming out and it is getting better! The towel is getting oily!
On a side note, I like different strops for different razors sometimes. Just like a particular brush for a certain soap. I am going to get another hanging strop. I like using them on heavier wedges. I think I will stay safe and get the lighter-draw bridle. JMO
Tom
Interesting, I never thought about how different strops work with different types of razors. It makes good sense though, the amount of blade contact along with weight of the blade will definitely affect the draw.
The biggest love seems to go for the Cordovan and the Roos but for my next strop its not in the budget. I'm going to try out that Starshaving OVB latigo though as it seems to be an excellent strop for the price :)
Maybe next round i'll try a Cordovan or Roo, but I'll have to be sure I'm ready for it. Accidentally sliced a couple ribbons in my strop this afternoon
I voted Cordovan, but I have 2 strops that I favor. The first is a Neil Miller Horween Cordovan w/real linen. 2nd is the SRD Premium I Leather with webbed material, and I'm not sure what leather it is, it's only described as shoulder leather. What ever razor I'm stropping determines which strop I use.
Regards
Howard
Zib;
I like your No 1, 2 and 4. 4 is also my go to. As you, so I also prefer a minimum draw, I get good results for me that way. Good post.
The best,
Tom
How do you determine which razor needs which sort of strop? Do hollow grinds need less draw and a heavier wedge work better with more? I'm curious as to how these things affect the blade...Quote:
Originally Posted by SirStropalot
Thanks!
My favorite strop, the one I use every day, is an IRS #361. I think it is cow hide, but I didn't see cow as a choice. Unless one of those fancy shmancy "English bridal" whatcha-ma-call-it's is actually cow hide. I dunno.
English Bridle and Latigo are both forms of cowhide - the difference is in the tanning process. Dovo and Jemico and variants of the same are cow leather. The 'rindleder' designation simply means 'cow leather' in german.Quote:
Originally Posted by honedright
'Russian' leather is cowhide. 'Juchten' leather is cowhide.
There is also a 'latigo cordovan' on the market, which is cowhide that has been tanned as latigo then re-tanned using the cordovan process - the trade name for it is chromexel, I think. It's a relatively cheap way to call a cow a horse!
Regards,
Neil
Howard, 'shoulder refers to the cut - where the leather came from. Heres a diagram of the cuts obtainable from a cow:Quote:
Originally Posted by SirStropalot
Attachment 108812
You can buy the 'whole hide' or a 'side' as well - the side is simply the whole hide cut in half from tail to head. The belly area is soft and fibrous and not that suitable for strops. The shoulder is thick and strong, but tens to have wrinkles so the surface is usually mechanically milled-off (regularised) and a fake pore pattern imprinted into it.
Regards,
Neil
Neil, really glad Scott brought this up. I have a HandAmerican 'Old Dog Classic 905' that came with a little brochure. In it Keith says,"Your strop was hand made using full grain horse hide tanned in the Cordovan style by the Horween Co. of Chicago Illinois." So what is the difference between a piece of horse hide tanned with the 'cordovan process' and cordovan shell ? Is the one equal with the other ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil Miller
Thanks Neil! It's something I haven't read up on to the degree I need to. Mostly i was unsure of which animal it was from, but with the diagram I see that the butt is a much larger than i had envisioned as far as it incorporates a lot of the back. Good info!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil Miller
Thanks again!!
Howard
The main thing is that 'cordovan' is a method of tanning, and 'shell' is a specific cut of leather - from a horses rump in this case, so 'shell cordovan" is horse shell leather that has been tanned using the cordovan process. The horses hide is removed and a measurement of 18 inches forward from the root of the tail is made, and the leather cut down each flank and along the butt cheeks. The round cheek areas are separated from the rest (though both are tanned), and the butts are split to reveal a small oval muscular membrane called the shell.Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyHAD
Of course more than just the shells come from a horse! The bits that flank the shells are often referred to as 'north of cordovan' or just plain 'horse-hide' - a haflway house between shell and ordinary leather (the shell is mainly muscular tissue rather than skin/subcutaneous leather), very fine in texture, usually thicker than shell, much cheaper than the more expensive shell, and usually stiff as a board. Other cuts have more in common with the leathers we are accustomed to, being much thicker. The japanese and italian use a thick cut from near the shoulder and tan it as cordovan for instance, but technically it cannot be called 'shell' cordovan.
The cordovan process is named for Cordova, Spain where the process was invented a very, very long time ago. The original process used goatskin and alum - very different to today's process! In the middle ages people who used the leather were called 'cordwainers' and because so many of them made shoes it become a generic term for a shoemaker, up until comparatively recently. The process later included pig and sheepskin leather. Once it had changed to produce the shiny leather we recognise as cordovan, it spread to Germany where highly mirrored leather articles (spiegelware) were produced, then to Holland, then to America.
Today's process takes six months to complete. In the US, Horween import salted horsehides from France - they are unprocessed and heavily salted to preserve them - then tan them in a solution of resins, tree bark (some from the chestnut tree) in a deep pit. They remain there for 30 days, then have the surface layer removed to expose the membraneous shell, then go into another pit of tanning solution for a further 30 days. Other processes including a 'resting' phase take an additional 4 months.
Horween, incidentally, were primarily strop-makers:
Attachment 108820
but as the market disappeared they had to use the product for other things.
Regards,
Neil
Hi fchan,Quote:
Originally Posted by fchan
What I was referring to, for me, is mostly preference. I think you'll hear and read this a lot with straight shaving. Shaving, the razor on your face, Feel. Honing, blade on the stone, Feel. Stropping, blade on the linen or leather, but mostly leather, Feel. Sometimes feel is preference, how much draw one prefers, etc.. Honing, especially on Shaptons, you can feel a change in the stroke that tells you it's at or right at finished on that stone. That's not preference, but real feedback. Some can get that same feedback from their strops. Not so much for me.
What I was referring to was more utilitarian. I like to strop square/spike points on the Premium I strop because it's a thicker and sturdier (stiff) leather and I'm less likely to get the occasional scratch on it with the tip than on my shell cordovan which is a much thinner leather, and softer. I also like to hone blades with a bigger smile, like a Charlie Lewis razor, on the Premium I because it has less draw and I can more easily work the angle of the blade to get the whole edge evenly stropped. Hollow and extra hollow I like the cordovan. Like I said, some of it is feel, preference, and some of it is feel, feedback.
For lots of posts on sharpness due to draw, and draw in general, search (sharp draw) There are no end to ideas, opinions and theories on what and how a strop does what it does. Hope this helps.
Best Regards,
Howard
Howard, years ago, when I first cut into (no pun intended) the razor forums I read a thread on one of them where guys were talking about their favorite strop material. At that time they seemed to think that little or no draw equaled ineffectiveness. Latigo was the consensus at that time. I liked horse right from the git go. Anyway, it is interesting, looking at the poll results so far, that cordovan/horse is leading the pack.
Yeah, I went back and read a lot of the old posts and draw was magical. I still prefer a light draw, I think it's easier to use, easier to learn on, and I can't tell any discernible difference in the results from my Premium I with light draw and my Buffalo with lots of draw.
I got a SRD Premium IV English Bridle a couple weeks ago and I'm still breaking it in but I really like it. The draw is getting better and better but it's showing signs of wear already. I think it's from my smiling razors which all have barber notches. I like to use a regular stroke and a x stroke to make sure I get the whole edge. The x stroke might be doing it. So I use my SRD Premium I for my smiling razors cause it's softer, less draw and hasn't shown any sign of wear. I use the English Bridle on only my "straight" straight razors now but it's my favorite, for now.
