Vintage leather strops

[timwcic]

This came from a very unexpected place, one of my honey hole junk shops. A vintage Biber Loom Strop. Bought it more for its novelty then its usefulness. A little beat up but still has some life left.

 

[Southbound1]

Cordovan leather is a process of treating leather, not the leather itself.
Any leather can be treated in the Cordovan process.
Shell is a cut from just below the skin on the rump of the horse.
I have seen old ads that stated Red imp was a Shell leather and the 700c was there top strop from Certifyd.

Hey man,

Cordovan leather is a process of treating leather, not the leather itself.
Any leather can be treated in the Cordovan process.
Shell is a cut from just below the skin on the rump of the horse.
I have seen old ads that stated Red imp was a Shell leather and the 700c was there top strop from Certifyd.

Hi,

Been reading up your posts. Can you give me some information on Red imp strops, please?

I got one that says Keen-edge then red Imp. and the stamp on the linen is pinkish purple, and thats weird. At the bottom of the leather it doesn't say cerityed because it was made for a barber supplies Co. but it does say 700c. Anyways cant find info on ome saying keen-edge. Have you? Its varies in thickness but its around 3.22mm, it is shell.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Tanuki]

Hey man,

Hi,

Been reading up your posts. Can you give me some information on Red imp strops, please?

I got one that says Keen-edge then red Imp. and the stamp on the linen is pinkish purple, and thats weird. At the bottom of the leather it doesn't say cerityed because it was made for a barber supplies Co. but it does say 700c. Anyways cant find info on ome saying keen-edge. Have you? Its varies in thickness but its around 3.22mm, it is shell.

Thanks,

View attachment 1495691Mike

Bump...

Mike,

I have a non-Red Imp Keene-Edge strop, also a non-Keene-Edge Red Imp 700C with the common Certifyd markings.

I believe the Keene-Edge brand belongs to Hess Hair Milk Lab. They made their namesake liquid products, but resold other barber supplies as well. I also have a NOS Hess straight razor that was imported from Solingen.

So Hess got Red Imp to brand some strops for Hess to sell to barbers. The Red Imp brand was strong, so Hess would have wanted that on the strop, too. Now I'm wondering if Certifyd made Red Imps or just resold them like Hess.

Hess appears to still exist in Minnesota, btw.