- Thread starter
- #61
I have a hunch that my sister might be getting me a 3" Tony Miller strop for Christmas!! Now THAT would be very cool!
How Many Strops Do You Own?
- Thread starter eezee
- Start date
It really doesn't matter. I just wanted to try them to feel the difference. I have the 3" plain vanilla strop.
TM 2 1/2 inch Latigo linen, barber end
TM 2 1/2 inch horse hide linen. D ring
TM 3 inch English bridle cotton plain vanilla
TM 4 sided paddle pasted 3,1, 0.5 micron diamonds
Many 3 x 12 inch home brew pasted strops made with HandAmerica leather from Woodcraft.
TM 2 1/2 inch horse hide linen. D ring
TM 3 inch English bridle cotton plain vanilla
TM 4 sided paddle pasted 3,1, 0.5 micron diamonds
Many 3 x 12 inch home brew pasted strops made with HandAmerica leather from Woodcraft.
Tony Miller Plain Vanilla 2 1/2" with linen
Star Shaving 2" that I added a hemp webbing 2nd component
Whipped Dog Poor Man's leather
Vintage 2 sided leather paddle
Torrey 4 sided coticule, pasted leather, and plain leather paddle
Biber pasted/plain leather loom
Home made 2 1/2 hanging leather & hemp
fire hose strop (thanx, Gamma!)
5 home made assorted pasted balsa, hemp, & leather 2 1/2" paddles
and a dozen or so hemp and cotton strops for experiments with different pastes
Star Shaving 2" that I added a hemp webbing 2nd component
Whipped Dog Poor Man's leather
Vintage 2 sided leather paddle
Torrey 4 sided coticule, pasted leather, and plain leather paddle
Biber pasted/plain leather loom
Home made 2 1/2 hanging leather & hemp
fire hose strop (thanx, Gamma!)
5 home made assorted pasted balsa, hemp, & leather 2 1/2" paddles
and a dozen or so hemp and cotton strops for experiments with different pastes
I've been scouring the earth for an Ambrose. I think they're extinct.
Kanayama 80K, Lipshaw and a custom made by me.
Kanayama 60k is my daily strop. I've picked up several NOS strops lately, but not for the leather..I'm playing around with the vintage linen. One piece seems to be as good as the kanayama canvas, but I wouldn't say it's better. But I still have some testing to do.
Among others - including Walkin Horse and Kanayamas, I have 2 Ambrose strops - love them. I'd buy 2 more if I could.
Lately though - I've been using the HH strop I fitted up.
Lately though - I've been using the HH strop I fitted up.
2015 update. I've pretty much settled on the following:
2-1/2" Walkin' Horse horsebutt with cotton backing;
2-1/2" Scrupleworks Swedish bridle with cotton backing;
2" Scruple works horsehide b/w oil-tanned Horween with separated cotton element;
2-1/2" Koken "Quality Supreme" Shetland colt-shell with firehose linen backing;
2-1/2" Delta Hardware Co. "Non com pare" Russian shell with firehose linen backing;
2-1/2" Walkin' Horse Horween Cordovan with cotton backing.
Of these, the WH horsebutt is my standard, followed by the Scrupleworks Swedish bridle, a recent acquistion. All of them are barber's ends except for the WH horsebutt, which has D-rings that I ignore on the horsebutt side. The 2" Scupleworks is my travel set-up. Of the two vintage strops, the Koken colt shell was in need of love as received, and I lucked out in reconditioning the surface there. The "Non com pare" was excellent as received, apart from a fold in the middle of the strop that won't go away. The surface is so burnished, without a scratch! Whoever used it knew what they were doing; then some well-intentioned relative stored it away folded. Still a great strop when slackened and used with a little pressure. The WH Horween cordovan? Fastest strop of them all for sure. I bought this somewhat early on and it really is the cherry on top of the sundae that forms my strop collection here. Do I use it all that much? Not that much now. But I did at one point, and it is a good one. Like a black hard Arkansas, if there's a speck of dust on the surface, you'll know it! Torolf at Scrupleworks has been great about custom work. I recommend all of his strop types. Walkin' Horse's strop types are also great, but they have not been available recently.
2-1/2" Walkin' Horse horsebutt with cotton backing;
2-1/2" Scrupleworks Swedish bridle with cotton backing;
2" Scruple works horsehide b/w oil-tanned Horween with separated cotton element;
2-1/2" Koken "Quality Supreme" Shetland colt-shell with firehose linen backing;
2-1/2" Delta Hardware Co. "Non com pare" Russian shell with firehose linen backing;
2-1/2" Walkin' Horse Horween Cordovan with cotton backing.
Of these, the WH horsebutt is my standard, followed by the Scrupleworks Swedish bridle, a recent acquistion. All of them are barber's ends except for the WH horsebutt, which has D-rings that I ignore on the horsebutt side. The 2" Scupleworks is my travel set-up. Of the two vintage strops, the Koken colt shell was in need of love as received, and I lucked out in reconditioning the surface there. The "Non com pare" was excellent as received, apart from a fold in the middle of the strop that won't go away. The surface is so burnished, without a scratch! Whoever used it knew what they were doing; then some well-intentioned relative stored it away folded. Still a great strop when slackened and used with a little pressure. The WH Horween cordovan? Fastest strop of them all for sure. I bought this somewhat early on and it really is the cherry on top of the sundae that forms my strop collection here. Do I use it all that much? Not that much now. But I did at one point, and it is a good one. Like a black hard Arkansas, if there's a speck of dust on the surface, you'll know it! Torolf at Scrupleworks has been great about custom work. I recommend all of his strop types. Walkin' Horse's strop types are also great, but they have not been available recently.
Last edited:
As far as hanging strops I have settled on these:
Neil Miller Genuine Horween Cordovan shell, a VERY good piece of leather with outstanding workmanship. Will pass this strop to my son it's that good.
Another outstanding strop from across the pond.
1. Scupleworks Horween Cordovan with Flax linen second. Great craftsmanship, beautiful offerings and outstanding performance.
2. Scrupleworks Flax linen only for my honing bench, the best linen that I have found to date. Torolfs strops are my post honing workhorses and are an integral part of my honing regimen. Torolf has been great to deal with on my custom orders.
Kanayama 40K with Hemp? second, the fastest draw that I have and a daily driver. The Hemp, or whatever it is, second component is not broken in yet so the jury is still out on this one for me. Allot stiffer than Torolfs Flax linen and very different to strop on.
Strops are allot like razors and rocks for me, I could get by with just one but WHY would I want to!
Neil Miller Genuine Horween Cordovan shell, a VERY good piece of leather with outstanding workmanship. Will pass this strop to my son it's that good.
Another outstanding strop from across the pond.
1. Scupleworks Horween Cordovan with Flax linen second. Great craftsmanship, beautiful offerings and outstanding performance.
2. Scrupleworks Flax linen only for my honing bench, the best linen that I have found to date. Torolfs strops are my post honing workhorses and are an integral part of my honing regimen. Torolf has been great to deal with on my custom orders.
Kanayama 40K with Hemp? second, the fastest draw that I have and a daily driver. The Hemp, or whatever it is, second component is not broken in yet so the jury is still out on this one for me. Allot stiffer than Torolfs Flax linen and very different to strop on.
Strops are allot like razors and rocks for me, I could get by with just one but WHY would I want to!
I have just on TM Premimun steer hide
Premier 3" Bridle
Awesome 2 3/4" horsehide with two hide components. No name?
3" Star strop
3" Classic Shaving
Kanayama # 3 with suede and canvas
several homemade paddles with split cordovan and balsa
Have another Kanayama 60000 on the way....
Awesome 2 3/4" horsehide with two hide components. No name?
3" Star strop
3" Classic Shaving
Kanayama # 3 with suede and canvas
several homemade paddles with split cordovan and balsa
Have another Kanayama 60000 on the way....
I ordered two more Kanoyama 3's as backups. Guess you could say I like them! Total for me is now 5
I have ... let me see
1 black latigo 2.5"
1 suede 3"
2Natural taned cowhide 3"
4 Diferent linen from 2 to 3 "
Nishiri Pelican
1 Loom strop horse and linen
1 padle suede and latigo
1 padle both sides Horsehide / they start as vintage strops , after glued to a board /
2 more on the way - naturaly taned horse hide and red latigo
Maybe more in the future
1 black latigo 2.5"
1 suede 3"
2Natural taned cowhide 3"
4 Diferent linen from 2 to 3 "
Nishiri Pelican
1 Loom strop horse and linen
1 padle suede and latigo
1 padle both sides Horsehide / they start as vintage strops , after glued to a board /
2 more on the way - naturaly taned horse hide and red latigo
Maybe more in the future
I have four of my own 3" strops currently made up (3 with bridle leather and 1 latigo, and with backings of 2 kinds of cotton, one linen and one hemp), one vintage Scrupleworks cordovan a bit less than 3" with a textured leather backing, one small unnamed paddle strop, and my grandfather's old 2" strop that I've repaired but don't use - 7 in total.
I love vintage strops. I own 5 currently and have at least 3 more coming within a few weeks. All traditional 2.5" width barber style ends. I hate handles/D-rings, ruins the look for me and they're just unnecessary.
I have a mint/near NOS Red Imp 700 and a NOS Emil Paidar along with a beat up scotch lassie. Those are my Shell/Cordovan strops.
Then I have 2 NOS Horsehide strops. One is a C-MON Broke In, finest selected & hand finished. The other is an A-1 extra heavy genuine horsehide. Both are very heavy and nice. Extremely high quality. Any blemishes in the images below are cosmetic and don't affect stropping in any way. All are original with only palm rubbing on most of them.
I just got the horsehide ones so the tarnish won't be there for long.
I have a mint/near NOS Red Imp 700 and a NOS Emil Paidar along with a beat up scotch lassie. Those are my Shell/Cordovan strops.
Then I have 2 NOS Horsehide strops. One is a C-MON Broke In, finest selected & hand finished. The other is an A-1 extra heavy genuine horsehide. Both are very heavy and nice. Extremely high quality. Any blemishes in the images below are cosmetic and don't affect stropping in any way. All are original with only palm rubbing on most of them.
I just got the horsehide ones so the tarnish won't be there for long.
Last edited:
Great pics. One day I will be able to show my collection. But for now I gotta get number one.
