Looking for linen/canvas suggestions

[Christian1212]

I currently have 2 strops
An english bridle strop from SRD with that canvas backing and a kanoyama 30k with suede. I mainly use the kanoyama leather and sometimes the SRD for regular maintenance. I will use the sued on occasion to clean the blade after shaving but I hardly ever use the canvas on the SRD strop (very rough and sounds weird stropping on it)

I think I am going to start trying to treat the canvas from my SRD strop but not sure how great the quality is. I was considering getting the kanoyama canvas strop but wanted to see if anyone had other suggestions. (**quick side not bot sure if it is actually canvas on the back

I have not messed around with linen/canvas much and thought it would be a nice tool to add in my shaving arsenal. Thanks

 

[rbscebu]

Like you, I am not a fan of stropping on linen/canvas. I just feel that it is too course on the delicate edges of my SR's. It may be good for those who like to maintain their blades' edges on pasted flexible strops. I don't.

What I have done is glued some natural chamois to my linen/canvas strops and strop on that to clean any soap residue from a blade's edge after a shave and before maintaining the edge on a 0.1μm diamond pasted balsa strop. Works well for me.

 

[buca3152]

Get a real flax linen strop made.by Torolf from Scrupleworks. Real flax apparently has some silicone on the fibers so it's very slightly abrasive.

 

[bluesman 7]

Get a real flax linen strop made.by Torolf from Scrupleworks. Real flax apparently has some silicone on the fibers so it's very slightly abrasive.

That's silica, but yeah real flax linen rocks.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Real linen is made from flax and is more aggressive than cotton, but even cotton will polish steel. Vintage linen is a joy to use and by itself will produce a fine edge.

Vintage linen must be soaked and washed several times to remove years of dirt/dust in the weave and sizing to produce a soft flexible strop.

I have several vintage strops and a few vintage Kanoyama strops with well washed vintage linen that produce a fine shaving edge. Often, I do not even use leather.

Below are before and after micrographs of Tim Zowada, one of his Timahagane[11] , (64HRC) razors stropped on linen 40 laps. You can see how it polished/improved the edge of the razor on just linen. The photos are the width of a human hair.

Clean linen is way under rated.

​

 

[Legion]

I too use flax linen.

 

[Christian1212]

Ended up getting a firehose strop from etsy. Will update this thread whenever it comes in and what my thoughts are. Interested to see if I notice any differences in the shave. Cheers

 

[Toro Blanco]

+1 on good vintage linen. I have found some that are a joy to use. Others not so much.

Just like everything you have to test out and find out for yourself.

I don't have one but I believe TM make's a real linen strop, if you want a new one.

 

[Legion]

It is out there. Some years ago I found a small quantity of flax linen tubular material in both 2 and 3" widths, at my local leather supply store. I bought up all they had, and have never seen it since, but someone must make it.

 

[Frank Shaves]

I am really happy with the flax linen in my TM.

 

[buca3152]

I saw a few years ago a foam core nylon that works well also. From a guy in Louisiana, big easy tools. Not sure if he still sells it. Very noisy and does add some zip to your edge. Was cheap also. But I prefer the real deal that I have from Scrupleworks. Vintage waxed linen is many times pasted. Not sure you can remove whatever it's pasted with.

 

[Tony Miller]

It is out there. Some years ago I found a small quantity of flax linen tubular material in both 2 and 3" widths, at my local leather supply store. I bought up all they had, and have never seen it since, but someone must make it.

That is the problem with many materials. They are often made for a certain application or company, and any surplus is sold to other markets and the product is never made again. I have had mills tell me they will make whatever I want as long as I buy 10,000 feet of it.....that is a lot of strops

 

[Toro Blanco]

Plenty of unwaxed vintage linen to be found you just have to train your eye and know what to look for.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

The tighter the weave and thinner the thread, the finer the polish. There is a big difference between a Fire Hose strop and a Fine weave like Tony Miller’s, Kanayama or washed vintage linen. Flax Fire hose is aggressive, and it must be scrupulously cleaned, or the dirt will scratch a bevel.

I use Firehose to strop on between stones and like the aggressiveness, it will leave its own stria, but when honing it does not matter. I strop on vintage Kanayama before shaving daily, it only polishes no stria.

BTW you can buy Kanayama replacement Flax Linen for $35. It must be washed prior to use, but once washed it is as soft as a washed old sock.

 

[Christian1212]

The shame of all of this is like 4 or 5 years ago I had 2 vintage strops. Leather was not usable and I believe they were eventually tossed. But thinking back on it I am pretty sure the linen for both of them was in great shape ;(

The firehose strop I ordered looks to be very clean so I think it should be a good purchase. If not I shall have the internal debate of kanayama canvas or try to find a good vintage one ha.

 

[Tony Miller]

The shame of all of this is like 4 or 5 years ago I had 2 vintage strops. Leather was not usable and I believe they were eventually tossed. But thinking back on it I am pretty sure the linen for both of them was in great shape ;(

The firehose strop I ordered looks to be very clean so I think it should be a good purchase. If not I shall have the internal debate of kanayama canvas or try to find a good vintage one ha.

Nice! That is really clean looking firehose. I have made a few before myself and properly washing is a real chore, even when buying unused but vintage hose.

That should work really well.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

You can’t tell how clean it is by looking at it. Vintage firehose has been sitting in a hose cabinet or shelf for years, (20-50 years) and coated with fine air born dust that gets in the weave and fibers.

It can take multiple soaking and washing to get it out.

To test a firehose strop, take a razor and paste it on any good metal polish.

Paste a 12-inch piece of cardboard, inside of a cereal box, paint 2- 3 inch X’s with polish on your finger. Let dry then strop on it about 100 laps.

This will remove all visible stria at about 60-100x. Now strop on your new fire hose. If you see deep stria under 60-100x magnification, on the bevel, the strop is contaminated, if you see a fine even stria pattern the strop is good.

Deep stria will chip the edge.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

BTW, while metal polish will leave a mirror finish on a bevel easily, you can not shave off of it. Aluminum Oxide, use in most metal polish leaves a course edge.

But, it is easy to lightly joint the edge and reset it with any good finisher.

 

[Christian1212]

Got the strop yesterday but didn't get to test it out much. First impressions though are okay. Strop appears to be really clean but felt like it could be broken in more, maybe just a tad softer feeling than the nylon webbing strop I have. I took a razor up to 12k to give it close to mirror finish and did not notice any stray stria. Tonight I will give it a test run with a shave after. Vendor said he washed it 3 times but I might try some of the things Kanayama suggest to break in secondary strop.

https://imgur.com/a/mRcNIXZ

 

[Christian1212]

Had a good shave with bad prep (low on hot water). Edge felt maybe a little bit different but I think it was from not-so-great prep. Didn't have any sting with aftershave, not leaning one way or the other though with the strop yet.