Hand me down DD Russian leather strop. To cheap to buy a newer fancier one when this gets it done.
Strop Acquisition Thread
- Thread starter rbscebu
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Looks like a slightly textured surface typical of some Russian strops. is the back smooth like the skin side of a hide or perhaps ribbed?
Hexed pattern…too rough for stropping a razor in my opinion.
Mail call! I got all my strops at once.
I think they are self explanatory. The middle one is a reject that I got to practice with. It looks great to me! The one on the right is the ebay mystery that I won. It's awfully short unfortunately, but appears to have been well used and not abused. The leather is strange, a lot of nap to it. I thought shell was supposed to be shiny and slick? It will get put away until I figure out a restoration plan, probably just have somebody local restitch it and treat the leather my self.
I think they are self explanatory. The middle one is a reject that I got to practice with. It looks great to me! The one on the right is the ebay mystery that I won. It's awfully short unfortunately, but appears to have been well used and not abused. The leather is strange, a lot of nap to it. I thought shell was supposed to be shiny and slick? It will get put away until I figure out a restoration plan, probably just have somebody local restitch it and treat the leather my self.
Finally received the famed Kanayama...even if it's only the 10000. However, there seems to be some issue with it...
Any ideas about what happened and what to do...
Any ideas about what happened and what to do...
You have a few options. Take the belts apart and press the leather under heavy weights for a few days; adding a small amount of steam before pressing will help. You can also try hanging using heavy weights attached at the bottom; same with steaming. Last method, but not my favorite but fastest is take belts apart, place the leather between a towel and place on ironing board, iron on high steam lowest setting to press flat. Once flat remove from towel and lay flat for a couple of days before using. Leather doesn’t like steam or water so go slow…steam should only be applied to the back side, the non-honing side.
Hey, thanks for your response! I choose the easiest of your option but without taking them apart.
Seems like work...after 24 hours the warp is much less...will keep it under the weights and in fact added more...
Now, towards the warp area (three quarters from the bottom) has 4 weights on it.
Kanayama 50,000
I’ve wanted one of these for a long time. With the proprietor now retired, I figured it was now or never. When I saw that JNS still had a few left I grabbed the highest number I could. It’s certainly a nice piece of leather. JNS packaged it really well. It came flat in a long sturdy box padded out to the max.
I now have a surplus of strops in the house; one TM, one Westholme, one Kanayama and one traveler. The strops have somehow multiplied just like the razors!
I’ve wanted one of these for a long time. With the proprietor now retired, I figured it was now or never. When I saw that JNS still had a few left I grabbed the highest number I could. It’s certainly a nice piece of leather. JNS packaged it really well. It came flat in a long sturdy box padded out to the max.
I now have a surplus of strops in the house; one TM, one Westholme, one Kanayama and one traveler. The strops have somehow multiplied just like the razors!
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rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
Take care. You don't want an inbreeding problem. That's why I fitted dividers in my M7DS cases.
Yeah with all these horses I’m going to need some more stables. I think I’ll send one to pasture in the country.
You are just getting started!
I picked up a talkative Red Imp 700C today. It is in nice shape, usable as is.
"Brings your razor back to life"
"CERTIFYD"
"Will beat 'em all"
"Like certified check"
What are the properties of the Russian Leather compared to a standard strop? I need to pick up a new strop and have been looking at the Illinois #827 which is a Russian Leather also.
Most (many) of the Russian strops like the Illinois #827 use the back, flesh side of the hide rather than the smooth skin or grain side. The flesh side is either left rough as it was taken from the animal or possibly skived (split) down to a slightly more uniform, but still rough surface. Many were rolled and compressed too to give a firmer surface temper. Many vintage Russian strops and a few German made ones from a few years ago were quite red in color leading to speculation of a different tanning method to impart more silica or even the possibility of red rouge being applied as a slight abrasive. I owned one of the newer German made ones, and cannot remember the brand but it was very firm, slightly textured and very effective. The Illinois version can be quite rough on some examples as the dyes used seem to impart some stiffness for the flesh/fibers.
I believe Herold is well known for their leather being flesh side. Apparently the canvas side is really nice, it's not stiff cotton. I am picking up the dual leather version soon for "research purposes."
What do we have in here…
Thanks to Nick at Great Lake Strops, I have not one, but two linen fire hose strops!
Thanks to Nick at Great Lake Strops, I have not one, but two linen fire hose strops!
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Please let us know how these work out for you. Interesting material choice for stropping.
Tony didn't appreciate the "back side use," so I used paste...
Umm, so I needed clean linen. I got a deal on buying two; one is from 1931, the other 1970. He had told me one would be stiffer and that holds true. The stiffer of the two, the 1970, hasn't yet flattened out enough and is running fast. The 1931 is only a little faster than my horse butt strop and already has that nice magnetic feel to the draw.
The plan is that the fire hoses are a separate strop for post-shave and the TM strop,with pasted linen, is for pre-shave. This is also to add another layer of protection from getting honing debris into my leather. These are supposed to really shine for use after honing. I wish I had more to say, hopefully it was a smart purchase.
I think you'll be happy with them. I have a strop made of vintage firehose and I love it. I think it bumps up an edge better than leather alone.
Are you planning to paste a real linen strop or just a cloth (cotton) strop?Tony didn't appreciate the "back side use," so I used paste...
The plan is that the fire hoses are a separate strop for post-shave and the TM strop,with pasted linen, is for pre-shave.
To me, the real linen is already an abrasive fiber but once covered with an abrasive compound it is now the compound layer on top doing the work, not the cloth underneath which now just serves as a base to hold the applied abrasive so in my mind, any less pricey cloth component (or even leather) would serve the same purpose.
I'd like to hear other abrasive users thoughts on this.
I already did 3 weeks ago now. It's probably a waist of linen, but I had read that it holds compound more like denim. It works, worst case scenario you have to sell me a replacement linen.
