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Thoughts on Vintage Blades strops?

Their description reminds me of SRD strops that reviewed here by Telly.

This is from Vintage blades:

"The Vintage Blades 2" Black Latigo Hanging Razor Strop is hand crafted by highly skilled Amish craftsmen, using only premium hides to ensure the best stropping possible. In addition, there is also a second strop, securely attached at the top, made of a unique fabric webbing that resembles the look and feel of the old vintage strops. Testing done with this material has found it to be superior to traditional cotton and linen fabrics for pre-stropping."

This is from Straight Razor Designs:


"We are proud to introduce our very own line of leather straight razor strops. These beautiful 3 inch hand crafted red and black Latigo strops have been made to our strict specifications by highly skilled Amish Craftsmen. Each piece of leather has been selected from premium hides to ensure the best stropping experience available. In addition, each strop has a specially selected second strop made of a fabric webbing that resembles the feel that the old vintage strops had. It is also excellent for those who like to use pastes on their fabric strops."

Sop maybe they are the same strops sold by different vendors.





 
I have the VB 3" red, and it looks identical to the pictures on SRD, except for the embossing ("VB" v. SRD). It was my first, and remains my only strop. Somehow I've managed not to destroy it while learning. It has served me well. Of course, now I'm thinking of horsehide, etc. -- so many items, so little cash...
 
They are the same strop sas SRD I believe.

I got a 2 inch red latigo from SRD after using a 2 inch Filly from Ken Rup. The draw on the SRD is a lot smoother than the Filly. I'm not sure if this is just the way all Latigo is supposed to be, or if It's unique to the SRD strop, but it is definitely smoother. Hope that helps make things as clear as mud :lol:.
 
There is no such thing as the best strop. It all boils down to personal preference. Tony Miller's strops always get good reviews, he is very helpful and his service unequalled. IIRC he scaled down his strop making activities for personal reasons.
 
There is no such thing as the best strop. It all boils down to personal preference.

I know, but since it's my first strop, I just don't have any basis for a pesonal preference. I know Tony Miller's strops are almost universally praised, but not readily available at the moment. I'm leaning toward the Vintage Blades strop only because I've had good experiences dealing with that company, and I just wanted to make sure their strops were decent.

I am curious as to why some of you guys go for 2" and some for 3" if there's a reason other than price.

Thanks.
 
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I know, but since it's my first strop, I just don't have any basis for a pesonal preference. I know Tony Miller's strops are almost universally praised, but not readily available at the moment. I'm leaning toward the Vintage Blades strop only because I've had good experiences dealing with that company, and I just wanted to make sure their strops were decent.

I am curious as to why some of you guys go for 2" and some for 3" if there's a reason other than price.

Thanks.

I bought one of the Red Latigo 2" strops from VB and it's great. I'm pretty sure they are made by SRD. They look exactly the same.

They're definitely high quality strops and VB is a great vendor.

I went with a 2" because I learned on a 2" strop and I didn't see any reason to go to a bigger size. I think the 2" is a more traditional size. I haven't seen too many 3" vintage strops. It's also nice that it's cheaper too.
 
I'm pretty sure most guys who pick the 3 inch strop pick it so they don't have to do an X pattern.

After looking at the VB and SRD strops, there is one discernable difference between the two. The VB strops use D ring handles and the SRD ones use a leather handle. The VB strops are also a little cheaper :biggrin:.

I would say the VB is a good choice, but if this is your first strop, don't spring for the expensive linen or cotton add ons. I say this for two reasons, one is that your first strop always gets hacked up, and the second is that Telly said he was unhappy with the premium fabric because it didn't have any draw. This is my one and only "canvas/linen" strop but after you get used to the nylon the draw doesn't seem half bad.

The nice thing about the VB/SRD strops is the leather and linen are replacable (SRD sells replacement inserts). If this is your first strop, you are going to want to replace the leather in a few months to a year :lol:.

I say embrace it! I say deface it!!

I'm still a noob and have only tried two strops, YMMV and all that jazz.
 
After looking at the VB and SRD strops, there is one discernable difference between the two. The VB strops use D ring handles and the SRD ones use a leather handle. The VB strops are also a little cheaper :biggrin:.

The D ring was another reason I chose the VB version of the strop. SRD
doesn't offer a D ring and I prefer them to the leather handle.

I also thought the VB stamp was nice too.

It's really an excellent strop. I have no complaints.
 
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