Conditioning a Kanoyama canvas

[Eastcoast30]

I was looking at a Kanoyama strop and I understand that they are top of the line. I am not concerned about the price, but the instructions they give for conditioning the canvas comes to quite a bit of work, including "wrapping by Nagura to polish the surface". Do they mean to use a Nagura stone? Has anyone actually done this? It's a long list of work steps and they say to repeat it three times. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Tomo]

I’d just use the leather. Canvas doesn’t do anything for me. I can’t see the point of it.

 

[cugel]

Yeah the translation is not clear. I have one and use it. I took it apart and threw it in the washer and dryer then worked it with a kitchen knife etc. It seems soft now but I have no idea if my method did much.

I do about 15x strokes before leather. Tried light and medium pressure, both are ok. My guess is that it cleans the edge (I can see a bit of discoloration in my canvas now, presumably due to swarf etc) and the friction warms the edge up for the leather. But I don't know fer sure. Just a guess

 

[Jnatcat]

I use mine all the time and it’s slowly been getting softer over the many years but I never did any washing of it to soften it up and the edges seem to be fine, I’m not sure it’s purpose other than clean edge before hitting the leather

 

[Eastcoast30]

For the price, I would think they should make the canvas "strop ready". Instead I purchased a cordovan strop from Griffith and the linen part was durable and soft. And it was a full 3 inches.

 

[stone and strop]

The easiest way to break in his canvas is to form a tight loop and work it up and down the strop from both sides like a tidal wave.
It works great and only takes a few minutes.
It simply stretches the fabric to make it supple.
There was a you tube video years ago that I can't seem to find.

 

[LJS]

Check out post #64 here -

Can you pls explain the difference between these two?

Well, to be honest, I love the old No2 Steerhide and a Westholme, But I had to pay shipping from the states to the UK and that was the best thing I did I love the Steerhide. As my go-to strop and I will say, Tonys Strop, you get one fantastic strop for your money you cannot go wrong. I am...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Jnatcat]

The easiest way to break in his canvas is to form a tight loop and work it up and down the strop from both sides like a tidal wave.
It works great and only takes a few minutes.
It simply stretches the fabric to make it supple.
There was a you tube video years ago that I can't seem to find.

I would be curious to see that vid...

 

[stone and strop]

I would be curious to see that vid...

I've been trying to find it but can't.
I'll try to get an image together that might help explain it.
It takes literally minutes and transforms the rigid canvas to a much more supple item you will not mind using.

Here is a quick photo.
The tighter the loop the better and work it along the strop to let the "wave" move from one end to the other.
Flip and repeat.

 

[stone and strop]

Ha! Found it!!
Guess where? B&B of course.
This is very quick and works great.

 

[Eastcoast30]

Looks like he is doing the leather and not the linen. Is that a good idea?

 

[stone and strop]

No, its the linen, and yes, its a good idea without introducing fabric softener or any other chemicals to the linen if you want it softer.

 

[Jnatcat]

As stated by @stone and strop he‘s rolling the canvas, you can see the leather tab at the end, the leather strop strip does not have a leather tab glued to the end.

I wish I had taken a before and after pics but I just did this and used a C clamp and clamped the end to our stone counter and used the heel of my hand as done in the vid and did each side like 10+ times slowly rolling back and fourth and then flipped it and did the same and not it droops like a soft leather belt and after doing so the edge being stropped on it is so quiet, I have been using this strop for several years and the canvas has never been this pliable and soft and I lost no length by washing it I’m still not convinced the canvas does much other than dry and clean the edge before going to the leather but now it’s a lot softer, thanks goes out to @stone and strop for taking the time to pass on this info

 

[stone and strop]

As stated by @stone and strop he‘s rolling the canvas, you can see the leather tab at the end, the leather strop strip does not have a leather tab glued to the end.

I wish I had taken a before and after pics but I just did this and used a C clamp and clamped the end to our stone counter and used the heel of my hand as done in the vid and did each side like 10+ times slowly rolling back and fourth and then flipped it and did the same and not it droops like a soft leather belt and after doing so the edge being stropped on it is so quiet, I have been using this strop for several years and the canvas has never been this pliable and soft and I lost no length by washing it I’m still not convinced the canvas does much other than dry and clean the edge before going to the leather but now it’s a lot softer, thanks goes out to @stone and strop for taking the time to pass on this info

You are welcome.
When I did it I could not believe the transformation either.
Simple and effective, just wish it was easier to find.
I suppose with the thread title it should be easier now.