Shell Cordovan Strops DIY

[Biltong & Boerewors]

I have been thinking about making my own shell Cordovan strop for a while now.

As this type of leather is not main steam it's been a bit of a search to find a supplier in Europe. The only one I found is a tannery in Italy and they, by the look of it, sell only whole shells. It would also seem that their market is usually leather goods makers making smaller items, so not really geared towards strops. At a price of around 160 Euro without shipping, it's not cheap, so before I commit to buying a shell I would like to educate myself and see if I can get information.

Calling on all experts here for some advice:

1) It would seem that the thickness of the leather will be around 4oz or 1.8mm. Will that be suitable? Thoughts going through my head are that veg tan leather used for strops is usually thicker than that, my concern being that if it is too thin it may be prone to stretching and cupping. Solution may be to construct the strop with a backing of some sort to prevent that.

2) According to the info on the tannery website there are a range of finishes and colours to choose from. Nice look, but for my purpose my thoughts were to go for a natural matt finish. Does it matter? Is the glazed finish going to be too smooth?

3) What's the typical dimensions of a shell? I know it's sort of an oval form, so not many long strips will come out of it. Any estimates how many 2.5 inch strips of suitable lengths you will be able to cut from it? I can email the tannery and ask if nobody knows.

I am not interested to start making strops for selling, I like working with leather. I think I will be able to make it for about the same price as buying a similar strop if I have to buy a whole shell, and maybe a lot less if I can team up with one or two other locals, but even that is not important. More about the satisfaction of using something daily that you have made yourself.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Here is the link for the tannery, have a look.

Shell Cordovan Toscana Italia

TATRA LEATHER SHOP: Fine vegetable tanned leathers from carefully selected tanneries, only the best quality for the best price

www.tatraleather.com

 

[SliceOfLife]

I vaguely remember looking at this a looong time ago, and my memory may be quite bad, but I think I was seeing 2-3 24" and maybe 2 more 18" pieces then some scraps from a large piece. That assumes no defects that you'd have to avoid in the piece.

 

[McBlade]

That does sound thin. Maybe you could glue two strips together?

When I made my strop I picked up a 4mm thick piece of veg tanned cowhide.

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

That does sound thin. Maybe you could glue two strips together?

When I made my strop I picked up a 4mm thick piece of veg tanned cowhide.

Never had a Kanayama strop in my hands, but I have read somewhere that they all come with a backing. Some say it's to support the fairly thin leather. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

I vaguely remember looking at this a looong time ago, and my memory may be quite bad, but I think I was seeing 2-3 24" and maybe 2 more 18" pieces then some scraps from a large piece. That assumes no defects that you'd have to avoid in the piece.

If I can get 4 usable strops from it, it will be well worth the money.

 

[stone and strop]

Never had a Kanayama strop in my hands, but I have read somewhere that they all come with a backing. Some say it's to support the fairly thin leather. Please correct me if I am wrong.

There is no backing on a Kanayama leather.
I own two of them.

 

[Slash McCoy]

No backing behind my Kanayama. Unless you mean the linen.

 

[Alum of Potash]

I have a stamped Horween strop from that Walkin' Horse put out ~8-9 years ago. Just measured it's thickness with a caliper in different places, and it varied between 2.1 and 2.4 mm. A little bit thicker than the Italian site, and it does seem thin when stropping, although it holds up fine with no cupping (barbers end, gripped accordingly). I would suggest backing it with some vegetable-tanned leather as mentioned above. I've glued up thin pieces of vegetable-tanned leather to have a back to back hanging pasted strop, and it turned out very well.

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

No backing behind my Kanayama. Unless you mean the linen.

Yes the linen, I think one of the hundreds of razor threads I read said you should hold the linen with the leather when stropping to support the leather.

Of course it can be total BS, a lot of what we read is.

 

[stone and strop]

I believe you should hold both together.
Two different Barbers have told me so and I have read it in a Barbering manual.

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

This is what I think is the natural matt finish (top) vs natural glazed (bottom). Any opinions which would be the most suitable?

 

[Alum of Potash]

Apart from increasing the apparent thickness, an advantage to stropping while holding both pieces together is it keeps the dangling linen piece from rocking back and forth when holding the leather piece alone when stropping. Does the same hold true when stropping on the thin linen or cotton piece?--i.e., is it advantageous to hold both pieces together?

 

[Tomo]

Westholme makes strops from Horween Shell Cordovan. They are based in England.

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

Westholme makes strops from Horween Shell Cordovan. They are based in England.

I know about Westholme. For the price they sell for I can buy a whole shell and enough hardware for at least two strops. Better yet, I can buy a Kanayama.

They are very nice looking strops, but I have an Malewski strop that has similar finishes. To be honest it's nice to look at, but I prefer a much simpler strop without the handle.

Nice reminder though, it seems they use the glazed finish in some of their strops, so it should be suitable.

This is the Malewski strops:

 

[Slash McCoy]

Yes the linen, I think one of the hundreds of razor threads I read said you should hold the linen with the leather when stropping to support the leather.

Of course it can be total BS, a lot of what we read is.

I have done it both ways, holding them together and not. You don't have to, but it may seem easier or feel more secure to you if you do.

I would NOT glue the shell to another piece of leather, though. It seems like if it were a good idea, some strop maker over the last 150 years would have started doing it. What if the two components stretched or shrank at different rates? You could, of course, add a second component, of heavier leather, and let it hang free like a linen part does.

 

[Tomo]

Not trying to plug Westholme just pointing out that they have a lot of experience doing exactly the same thing you are trying to do. Alastair who runs the business is quite a nice guy. He would definitely know the answer to your questions. He might even sell you a piece of raw material to save you buying a whole shell if you only intend to build one strop. It’s more of a hobby for him and not his main business.

His strops are expensive but when compared to buying all the materials, tools and time to make them they start to look more reasonable. You also benefit from the fact that he’s made hundreds of them over the years and I assume he’s learned the tricks of the trade by now. No doubt the current production is better than the first one he ever tried to make.

Some Kanayama models are cheaper but they are also a much simpler design. It may sound like heresy but I don’t personally think that Kanayama is the be all and end all in the strop world. I’m sure the leather is amazing but I feel like the hardware and secondaries let them down. They only offer one width and only with barber ends. I know they have somewhat of a cult following. Each to their own I guess.

Some people prefer the DIY route and I respect that. I hope it works out and look forward to seeing the finished product. I’m keen to try a Shell Cordovan strop myself. It was very popular in the heyday of straight razors. I’m sure there was a reason for that popularity.

 

[Alum of Potash]

I have done it both ways, holding them together and not. You don't have to, but it may seem easier or feel more secure to you if you do.

I would NOT glue the shell to another piece of leather, though. It seems like if it were a good idea, some strop maker over the last 150 years would have started doing it. What if the two components stretched or shrank at different rates? You could, of course, add a second component, of heavier leather, and let it hang free like a linen part does.

This strikes me as a reasonable precaution and alternative. And you would have a second leather strop element to strop on from time to time as an alternative to the shell.

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

I would NOT glue the shell to another piece of leather, though. It seems like if it were a good idea, some strop maker over the last 150 years would have started doing it. What if the two components stretched or shrank at different rates? You could, of course, add a second component, of heavier leather, and let it hang free like a linen part does.

Yeah agree I would not glue anything to the leather for the reasons you stated. Also I like to be able to take a strop apart for maintenance so I will secure it with Chicago screws. I like to apply neatsfoot oil liberally to the back of a strop to soften. I was thinking a second linen component to hold for support. Don't like stropping on anything else than leather after balsa.

 

[macintoshBR]

I have a Horween Shell Cordovan strop from Scrupleworks. 18” long a d 2.5” wide.
It’s the same finish of my Alden Cordovan shoes (glazed/shiny/waxy). Beautiful.
It’s thin, probably my thinnest strop, and there is nothing glued to its back to make it thicker, only the second component in real flax linen.
It’s also one of my favorite strops. I wouldn’t do anything differently if I were to DIY my own strop.

 

[macintoshBR]

They say a photo is worth 1000 words, so here is a 2000-words worth post: