- Thread starter
- #41
So this just arrived. $6.50 shipped from the US.
The hardware? Actually it's just fine. Maybe not quite as nice as vintage... but it's fairly substantial metal and has all the right parts. Honestly the hardware alone is almost worth what I paid for the strop.
The big question is the canvas.
It's that plasticky really stiff stuff. I seem to remember cheap illinois having something similar. I'll test it and get back on if it works... if it does, this is a great deal.
Leather? It's cheap, but it is leather. Like the Xbay this arrived with a big line of creasing near the bottom. This also arrived with a gouge about 2/3 of the way down the strop. Also like the Xbay, there's plenty of other flaws in the leather surface... but they are recessed, and the leather has more of a "finished" look than the Xbay did. It's cheap leather, with fibers pulling apart like a stringy overcooked steak at the edges... but it seems like it's real leather... again not dissimilar to cheap Illinois strops (but with flaws all over).
I'm probably going to try stropping and stopping before I hit that big gouge to test it out. This is the first strop of these cheap ones I actually EXPECT will work like a real strop from the feel of it... but that probably means it'll be the disappointment.
In either case, I got my moneys worth with the hardware and I'm actually much more hoping that the canvas works than the leather. I couldn't really care less about the leather's functionality other than to review it.
Flesh side of the leather seems reasonably clean if you use it for pasting.
The hardware? Actually it's just fine. Maybe not quite as nice as vintage... but it's fairly substantial metal and has all the right parts. Honestly the hardware alone is almost worth what I paid for the strop.
The big question is the canvas.
It's that plasticky really stiff stuff. I seem to remember cheap illinois having something similar. I'll test it and get back on if it works... if it does, this is a great deal.
Leather? It's cheap, but it is leather. Like the Xbay this arrived with a big line of creasing near the bottom. This also arrived with a gouge about 2/3 of the way down the strop. Also like the Xbay, there's plenty of other flaws in the leather surface... but they are recessed, and the leather has more of a "finished" look than the Xbay did. It's cheap leather, with fibers pulling apart like a stringy overcooked steak at the edges... but it seems like it's real leather... again not dissimilar to cheap Illinois strops (but with flaws all over).
I'm probably going to try stropping and stopping before I hit that big gouge to test it out. This is the first strop of these cheap ones I actually EXPECT will work like a real strop from the feel of it... but that probably means it'll be the disappointment.
In either case, I got my moneys worth with the hardware and I'm actually much more hoping that the canvas works than the leather. I couldn't really care less about the leather's functionality other than to review it.
Flesh side of the leather seems reasonably clean if you use it for pasting.
