Kanoyama canvas strop

So I really like using a medium weave linen strop before leather. I have settled into this routine for some time and find it works best for me.

So of course I ordered a Kanoyama canvas strop because I have the disorder and keep looking for something different. Anyway, from reading about what other people have found with this particular strop, I am wondering if I am going to get something like asphalt only harder? Is it going to be like a hemp doormat?

Some have suggested filling in the weave with soap- that sounds reasonable especially because it is totally reversible (washing the strop will remove the soap obviously). I was planning on trying a plain 'ole detergent bar.... is that it? Some have suggested wax but I am wary as that is certainly not removable.

What say all 'ye folk?

Brian

It breaks in...but slowly. I have no plans to put anything on it.

BDF said:

I am wondering if I am going to get something like asphalt only harder? Is it going to be like a hemp doormat?

Brian

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Yes, hard as a rock! I would not put anything on it. To speed the break in process you can put it on a flat table and fold it on itself and roll it back and forth a few times. Flip it and do the same on the other side.

I was thinking about wrapping it around a piece of steel and doing the 'shoe shine' action to break down the surface a little bit.

Youse guize are scaring me a little bit- I am starting to think I am going to get a hanging piece of oak bark in the mail, fit only for a chainsaw.

Brian

Brianskeet said:

Yes, hard as a rock! I would not put anything on it. To speed the break in process you can put it on a flat table and fold it on itself and roll it back and forth a few times. Flip it and do the same on the other side.

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I have kind of gotten to where I like it and it does its job very well. It really sings when you are using it.

I just used mine. Worked fine from the start, felt better as it broke in.

Got mine today and yep, it the surface was pretty hard. I 'shoe shined' it over the top of a door and that calmed it down a little bit.

It is a very aggressive strop on a razor. The razor feels rough going from the canvas to leather. Test stropped two razors and both edges were absolutely sharper afterward. Also did a test- shave and while I did not have any irritation or redness, I did get quite a few very fine weepers.

Did a quick experiment using the canvas stop, then linen, then leather and the razor is noticeably smoother. Maybe the canvas strop is more of a 'now and then' strop rather than an every day pre- strop.

It is an interesting strop though and very, very different from linen.

Brian

Brianskeet said:

I have kind of gotten to where I like it and it does its job very well. It really sings when you are using it.

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I had never considered going from Kanayama canvas to linen. I will have to give that a try.

Brianskeet said:

Yes, hard as a rock! I would not put anything on it. To speed the break in process you can put it on a flat table and fold it on itself and roll it back and forth a few times. Flip it and do the same on the other side.

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+10

A very early opinion but it seems that the canvas strop is closer to honing than stropping. It really does leave the razor quite rough (relatively- I mean it is not a brick or anything like that) and it can readily be felt when going to the leather. Using linen in- between the two reduces the roughness of the edge yet maintains the keenness from the canvas.

Oh, and 5 laps on both canvas and 5 on linen seem to be more than enough to make a very significant difference in the razor.

I think I am starting to appreciate how the old barbers worked: today we use, or can use, extremely fine abrasives and create the edge we want regarding sharpness. In the olden days, a barber's hone or a coticule only had to leave a reasonably flat set of planes for the bevel; the actual cutting edge was made by the coarser pre- stropping materials they used. Today's cotton strops, felt strops and similar do nothing that I can see and certainly nothing anywhere in the realm of what this Kanoyama canvas strop does. I really am thinking a few swipes on a barber's hone, a few laps on a pretty abrasive organic material (linen, canvas, or similar) and a bunch of laps on a piece of leather and a barber could have a magnificent blade to use. Coupled with his skill and a good prep, I can see how the whole system could work well in, say, 1880.

Brian

Brianskeet said:

I had never considered going from Kanayama canvas to linen. I will have to give that a try.

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Oh, and just so everyone knows, while I was unwrapping the strop from the box, the wrapper and the sleeve, suddenly Revel's Balero popped into my head. Shiver me timbers.

Brian

BDF said:

Oh, and just so everyone knows, while I was unwrapping the strop from the box, the wrapper and the sleeve, suddenly Revel's Balero popped into my head. Shiver me timbers.

Brian

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Kanayama has that effect. It is something mysterious he puts into his strops.

Filled mine with TOBS triple milled soap, the hardest soap I own. Quieted it down a bit but at the expensive of getting soap all over the blade. Not thrilled with the results. Perhaps I will throw the whole strop in the washing machine- that will get rid of the soap and might soften it up a bit. I am wary to try wax as that is not nearly as easy to remove from the strop later.

I gotta' say though, the best smelling strop in the world (Sandlewood soap).

Brian

I haven't had any issues with the strop from new. Yeah, it was a big change from linen, but I haven't seen any adverse effects by just using it as-is.

TimS said:

I haven't had any issues with the strop from new. Yeah, it was a big change from linen, but I haven't seen any adverse effects by just using it as-is.

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Agreed. I have left mine as new except for speeding the break in with a bit of rolling on a table and I am happy with how it works.

Rolling it on a table or in your hands loosens it up a bit. I also washed mine by hand with a nylon brush under running water with a bit of mild soap, and that helped too. Possibly it has some sizing in it. Anyway, that's all I did and I like it quite a lot, it's my normal second component.

You also might try just laying it down flat on the edge of a table and stropping a big 'ol cleaver or knife on it for a while.

Cheers, Steve

Yeah, the 'fill the weave with soap' idea didn't work out- terrible strop drag and left soap all over every razor I tried. Ended up washing the original soap out and then gave it a scrubbing on both sides with Proraso Sandelwood. Still pretty stiff (Easy Boys!) so I threw it in the clothes dryer for 10 minutes. Viola! That really softened it up and now it feels like cloth and now it smells great too.

Brian

Steve56 said:

Rolling it on a table or in your hands loosens it up a bit. I also washed mine by hand with a nylon brush under running water with a bit of mild soap, and that helped too. Possibly it has some sizing in it. Anyway, that's all I did and I like it quite a lot, it's my normal second component.

You also might try just laying it down flat on the edge of a table and stropping a big 'ol cleaver or knife on it for a while.

Cheers, Steve

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When I got mine, I put it through a couple of wash cycles and then laid flat to dry. Used a wire brush on it for quite a few strokes and it's softened up considerably. Still sings when I use it and it is definitely aggressive (in a good way) on the edge. I really like mine.

Love the canvas. Good stuff.