As my friends here on B&B already know I'm a huge fan of Tony Miller's strops and are always looking for novelties. After I got my Premium Steerhide and English Bridle strops last Christmas I was so happy and excited about my purchases that lately on in May I contacted the Maestro asking for some kind of new leather for another strop to add to my collection. At first Tony told me that what I got was pretty much everything he had available and the story seemed to end there. Seemed... After a few weeks Tony was kind enough to e-mail me saying he had a new project in mind for a vintage looking Premium strop, i.e. a strop made with brand new leather but with an "old, tired" aspect, as if it was a true piece of history. The only problem at that time was finding a proper leather for this idea. Finally, in November, Tony got some beautiful Spanish Bridle and made a couple of pre-production items. As you can see in the pics below the leather component is not homogeneous in colour and the caps have been aged, giving a unique ancient appearance. I was very satisfied with the pictures and therefore pulled the trigger! My strop is now shipping and I'll follow up with more details once it will be here. From what Tony told me draw should be in between Steerhide (a bit more) and Latigo (much less), what is common on most Bridles. Also, this one has no heavy dark colouring applied, just a good amount of wax that makes the surface quite slick and flexible. Tony wanted to call this strop Premium Grandpa's and, again, the ones in the pics below are the only two currently made. From the Maestro's own words: "Marco, these are pre-production samples and I probably won't offer them or this new leather till mid to late January. I want some feedback first on how it holds up from yours before commiting to making a large number of them. Easier to make corrections for two fellows instead of dozens just in case it does not work out over time." I got the Dee rings version with Genuine Linen, while the Handles version with aged Cotton was sold to another B&B member.
