Latest and greatest material

StubbleTrouble said:

This stuff is more like a woven vinyl material - crazy as it sounds (literally and quite figuratively), it really maintains an edge IMHO.

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This sounds like the "linen" component on the current line of Illinois strops.

On the other thread on this subject, it mentions the Illinois strop and this one being different. So my question has been answered.

StubbleTrouble said:

I think he has an ebay page under the same name, but not certain. There's another thread with the link, I believe.

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The ebay seller name is powertoolsnow. I was thinking about picking some up. Looking forward to hearing about your life experiences with this.

I bought some from his eBay store and it improved my edge a little , which is great. It is similar to the component on an Illinois strop but slightly thicker and stiffer.

I have been stropping on the "bigeasytools" second component for a couple of weeks now and I must say I am pleased with the performance. I can't say it's the most amazing thing ever, but it works fine. I don't put pastes on any strops, so I can't compare it to a pasted strop, but it works as well as any of my un-pasted second components. I liked enough to make it into a permanent part of my stropping routine. Added a nice D-ring and leather handle.

alpster said:

I have been stropping on the "bigeasytools" second component for a couple of weeks now and I must say I am pleased with the performance. I can't say it's the most amazing thing ever, but it works fine. I don't put pastes on any strops, so I can't compare it to a pasted strop, but it works as well as any of my un-pasted second components. I liked enough to make it into a permanent part of my stropping routine. Added a nice D-ring and leather handle.

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Wow, nice hardware! One thing is for certain: the performance / cost ratio is second to none!

StubbleTrouble said:

It has what appears to be a cotton sub material and a PVC-like surface.

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Sounds like the canvas side of my Dovo strop.

Here's a small shout-out to bigeasytools. I stumbled upon this thread and read with interest as I'm about to receive my first straight but won't purchase leather. I'm also kind of cheap. So, to hear some had really great experiences, I figured for the price, I can't go wrong. I emailed them and quickly got a detailed response about what's available. The website, by the way, is also quite informative including about how to acquire this material from them. After some back and forth (complete with some first-timer straight razor tips!), I decided to request a full strop with the material and he quickly responded that he would do one. It's now on it's way - a 3" with this material. I'm not sure what he did different but there are 2 sides, both synthetic, one tougher than the other, one intended to simulate leather and the other cloth. I have the tracking number and it should be here tomorrow or Monday. I can't wait to see it and will follow-up with a report for anyone who is interested.
Thanks for the discussion on this and the lead to bigeasy.