Kanayama Strop Review

Doc226 said:

How the the maiden stropping?

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I was a little nervous to be honest - I'm not new to stropping (though hardly a pro) but I also never stropped on such a piece of art before either! suffice to say I was more than pleased with the purchase. the razor glides on this leather, and the suede is a nice touch too - and I didn't miss the handles/d-rings one bit... in fact I feel more in control of the strop with the leather itself in my grasp than I imagined I would. It's surpassed the English Bridle, the russian leather as my favorite feeling strops (meaning both tactile and draw) I can't thank you and the other enablers here on B&B enough!

of course this now means I have to try another horse hide strop, possibly a few other leather types- and I've got a TM on the wishlist

Doc226 said:

Now I am someone who I will probably split time stropping on my TM and this strop.

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Doc - now that you must be past the new toy stage, how do you compare the Boom-Chickki strop to your TM strop?
has the TM come out to play at all?

This beauty was worth the $$$. IMHO it has both the looks, feel and performance. Almost sad I didn't get a spare because some here have promised me that as a beginner I will ruin it. But they didn't delete the shop button, yet! Now I just have to make sure my tiny swedish razor collection is up to par with this strop. Maybe I should let Doc give his mojo to one of them

WickedSwde said:

This beauty was worth the $$$. IMHO it has both the looks, feel and performance. Almost sad I didn't get a spare because some here have promised me that as a beginner I will ruin it. But they didn't delete the shop button, yet! Now I just have to make sure my tiny swedish razor collection is up to par with this strop. Maybe I should let Doc give his mojo to one of them

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When i was new I went through several strops that were very nice and the Artisan no longer makes the and even if he did the leather is no longer available to him so you may wish to pick up a spare while you can. If you never use it I am sure you will have no trouble getting getting your purchase price back.

cleanshaved said:

Doc - now that you must be past the new toy stage, how do you compare the Boom-Chickki strop to your TM strop?
has the TM come out to play at all?

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I still like the TM a lot. The feel is like stropping on glass compared to the Kanayama. I strop on the TM all the razors I hone for other members.

Ok, I finally put some metal on the pedals. The linen is stiff! Little bit of wash board but fun to strop on. The suede has a great feel to the touch and a pleasant drag. The #3 leather is nice and smooth and it also felt great in the hand. The #3 Aframestokyo continues to be a great buy, i think. Next up shave with the edge.

I have seen different treatment for the linen from soaks in certain fabric softener to wetting it and beating it between two rocks.The two rock method was actually a Japanese website that was comparable to ours I believe but I am not positive as I didn't peruse the entire forum.
I too bought the 3 from Aframes and find the draw to be quite waxy and heavy and I also feel it is has the smallest touch of abrasive to it as well. Overall I think they are a good strop for those beyond the stages of nicking and slicing as the leathers are rather soft and I don't think they will tolerate a lot of abuse.

My plan is to use the linen stiff like it is and strop light.

Didn't someone do a guide (I think it was at the cafeteria) on breaking the Kanayama linen it? I want to say he clamped it onto a workbench, and ran a board with the linen curved over it (180 degree turn across three sides) back and forth, holding the linen taut.



I did something similar by hand with an old vintage linen recently after I washed it. Worked nicely.

SliceOfLife said:

Didn't someone do a guide (I think it was at the cafeteria) on breaking the Kanayama linen it? I want to say he clamped it onto a workbench, and ran a board with the linen curved over it (180 degree turn across three sides) back and forth, holding the linen taut.
I did something similar by hand with an old vintage linen recently after I washed it. Worked nicely.

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Bart Torfs. Here's the original thread on Kanayamas and Bart's YouTube video. His method drastically shortens the break-in period. The softer, broken-in linen works a lot better for me.

http://www.coticule.be/the-cafeteria/topic/952.html

Aframestokyo has them back in stock.

http://yhst-27988581933240.stores.yahoo.net/kanoyama-cordovan-razor-strop-600mmx666006634.html

I'd get em while the gettin's good.

JNS just put the 2196 on clearance.

Wid said:

JNS just put the 2196 on clearance.

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Yep, ordered one yesterday! Very excited!!

You will love it.

Doc226 said:

You will love it.

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I have wanted one since I first read about them. Couldnt pass it up. It will look great hanging with my Tony Miller and Ambrose Strops.

Takeshi (at aframestokyo) also has a few 80,000s in stock, too, but not many. I have been camping on his page the last couple of weeks and they finally came in Friday.

The fact that there is a $100 (roughly) strop made out of any kind of cordovan at all is a steal. The higher ## strops are more expensive, but who knows how long the maker will be around (that's my justification for springing for one of the 80k strops, anyway).

Well I received my Kanayama and I think I have an idea of the type of defects people were talking about.

The main leather is fine, but the suede side has two little puncture marks on the right side, top and bottom. The bottom one isn't a problem because I don't strop that close to the end and I can't feel the top one when I go over it. Still sucks. I expected perfection, but alas, it escapes me...

Which model number is that AJ?

It's the 3 model. Smooth as silk. A pleasure to use. Came from your neck of the woods, Kent.

blackman said:

Well I received my Kanayama and I think I have an idea of the type of defects people were talking about.

The main leather is fine, but the suede side has two little puncture marks on the right side, top and bottom. The bottom one isn't a problem because I don't strop that close to the end and I can't feel the top one when I go over it. Still sucks. I expected perfection, but alas, it escapes me...

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Good review and a perfect image of the defect.