Where to find a replacement Strop for Valet Razors?

[hillbillyreverend]

Anyone found a reliable vendor to order a replacement strop for Valet Razors to the specifications of the originals?

I believe the leather should be veg tanned with a thickness of 1.6mm.

 

[Salty O'Rourke]

Every once in a blue moon you can find one (usually as part of a NOS razor set) that's in good shape and might be reconditionable or usable as a template to have one made. Why would you need one? Stainless steel blades don't benefit from stropping and the FHS-5 carbon blades are so lousy right out of the box that they really aren't worth the trouble it would take to try and revive one.

 

[hillbillyreverend]

Perhaps my easiest target would be a nos razor with strop and use some neatsfoot oil to get it back to normal.

 

[Old-Fashioned Coughy Pot]

I find myself in the same boat. I am thinking of pulling the trigger on one without a strop or case & scoring some Kai BEST carbon blades off the 'Bay from Japan. I think l will use Dr. Google and see if any intrepid shavers have cobbled a useable facsimile of the Auto Strop strop using E-Z to find stuff.

 

[Tomo]

Are you able to cut a piece of leather to size? Tooling leather is readily available on the bay in various sizes.

otherwise you might try reaching out to Tony Miller at Hierloom Strops. He’s a standup bloke and may do you a custom strop.

 

[Old-Fashioned Coughy Pot]

I just got an E-mail from Tony yesterday on this subject and he declined producing any for the reason the economics of getting the right stuff to make 'em understandably as he is a businessman.

 

[Hachet]

I find myself in the same boat. I am thinking of pulling the trigger on one without a strop or case & scoring some Kai BEST carbon blades off the 'Bay from Japan. I think l will use Dr. Google and see if any intrepid shavers have cobbled a useable facsimile of the Auto Strop strop using E-Z to find stuff.

.15 or .25 thickness? Asking for a friend

 

[Old-Fashioned Coughy Pot]

I was gonna splurge if the trigger gets pulled on 50 of each.

 

[Hachet]

I was gonna splurge if the trigger gets pulled on 50 of each.

PM me if you'd like to split that

 

[Rocklock]

I just measured my very unusable strop. It is 1.56" wide at the metal end and the leather is .050" thick and appears to be pigskin. Anybody have a length as mine is much to stiff to roll out.

 

[Rocklock]

Got a NOS strop on the way. I will make a pattern and see if I can find some pigskin of the right thickness. Now if we only knew what these strops were treated with and what the conditioner was that the company offered.

 

[Rocklock]

Well, for anyone that may be reading this and interested. I don't think the Valet strop was made of pigskin. Looks like light weight leather.

 

[Tanuki]

Here are some pictures and measurements from mine. It is supple enough that I pulled it through the VB1 rollers one time.

14" including the metal clamp. The cord loop is about 3 1/2" for 17 1/2" overall. It is a bit stretchy. Leather is about 1 17/32" wide. Metal clamp is about 1 9/16" wide.

Set pics:

 

[Tanuki]

Thickness of my strop leather, my best estimate for a compressible material. I used a caliper to get a light friction fit that was consistent at the middle of each of the four straight sections (not folds) of the strop. I then used feeler gauges to measure the caliper gap. (Cheap caliper with unreliable vernier.)

approx 0.06", call it 1.5mm if you prefer metric.

 

[ouchyfoot]

I love shaving with Valet razors and wanted to get a strop for them. Many times a good one became available and I hesitated to purchase. In the end it came down to...what’s the point. New stainless blades don’t need or want to be stropped. The only reason for a strop would be to demonstrate how your antique razor works to impress other people. That could become both anal and annoying after a while and the strop would just end up living It’s life out in a drawer somewhere.

 

[Tanuki]

I love shaving with Valet razors and wanted to get a strop for them. Many times a good one became available and I hesitated to purchase. In the end it came down to...what’s the point. New stainless blades don’t need or want to be stropped. The only reason for a strop would be to demonstrate how your antique razor works to impress other people. That could become both anal and annoying after a while and the strop would just end up living It’s life out in a drawer somewhere.

Deep and dangerous waters, ouchyfoot!

I am primarily a user of my shave gear, but constantly tiptoeing along the razor edge between using and collecting. I saw an AutoStrop strop packaged in an original paper wrapper during my peregrinations this summer. Easy for me to pass by.

But I did buy some items that will see little, if any use. I won't bother to show them to anyone other than other shaving and vintage nuts. But I do very much enjoy and appreciate seeing the gear and reading the background information that the razor collectors and history buffs post to B&B.

And if someone has a question that I can help answer, I enjoy doing it.

As for AutoStrop strops, it appears to me that AutoStrop sold a lot more razors than strops. Two of my three cases have no place for a strop. I think the steampunk aesthetic caught on long before the name. "Oooh! Look at the tiny gears, levers, hinges and doors! Must buy razor!"

 

[ouchyfoot]

Deep and dangerous waters, ouchyfoot!

I am primarily a user of my shave gear, but constantly tiptoeing along the razor edge between using and collecting.

I’m constantly sticking my toe in the water...putting things in my cart...and then quickly pulling my toe back out and drying it off. I know Im attracted to shiny and cool things and must keep a close eye on myself.

 

[Tanuki]

I don't think the Valet strop was made of pigskin. Looks like light weight leather.

I wouldn't guess pigskin either. I wouldn't want to have to guess between steer and horse, though. Mine appears heavily processed, definitely not full grain, and impregnated with a dressing that has kept it feeling oiled and supple down through many years. I imagine that it is the same age as the VB1 in the case.

 

[Rocklock]

Tanuki, my model C strop is totally different looking than yours. Mine doesn’t have the crosshatch pattern on it. The old one I got that is rotted an stiff does look like pigskin, but the NOS one I have looks straight up like regular thin veggie tan leather. Does yours have the model designation stamped into the end?

 

[Tanuki]

Tanuki, my model C strop is totally different looking than yours. Mine doesn’t have the crosshatch pattern on it. The old one I got that is rotted an stiff does look like pigskin, but the NOS one I have looks straight up like regular thin veggie tan leather. Does yours have the model designation stamped into the end?

I have now examined my VB1 and its strop more carefully than ever before. I don't see any model designation. On the non-crosshatched (back?) side of the strop there is a complicated centered stamping at the tapered end:

GENUINE
VALET
AutoStrop
Safety Razor
STROP

Below this is a stamped image of a razor, with the cap/flap showing just the word VALET, unlike the branding on the VB1 cap/flap. The razor handle is flanked by downward arcing type
MADE IN on the left and USA arcing upward on the right.

I'm off to see if I can get decent photos.