A Visit to Japan's one and only Strop Man

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ZethLent
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A Visit to Japan's one and only Strop Man

Post by ZethLent »

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I have been meaning to make a trip to the man who makes all of the strops here in Japan, better known as 'Kanayama' (in actuallity it is Kanoyama with and 'o' not and 'a').

His strops have been used and praised by a few people here and they are known for being top quality cordovan.

After visiting with Mr. Naoumi and his wife I am told that he took over his father's strop business and that his family has been making strops for over 100 years. Now, because demand is quite low he only makes about 20~30 a month and is focusing on other leather goods; wallets etc.

Before I get on to the pics, I brought along my two strops a Tony Miller Latigo and Horsehide strop and my Vintage Argentina. His first comment was on how firm the leather was on the TM. He explained that his strops are all very soft and provide the best possible finish on the razor or other edged blade. Whether the pliability changes anything I don't know but his opinion was that a softer more pliable leather was best. Even his thickest strops were vey soft.

He told me that no matter the markings on his strops ('French Hide' ... 'Five Stars' ... 'Llama' ... 'Special Quality' ... 'Deluxe' ... 'Pelican' ... etc.) they are all horsehide, but not necessarily cordovan.

The non-cordovan ones were very thick (1/4 inch) and very stiff. They were labeld Pelikan and have the outerside of the skin on top (slightly textured). He said that it is more abbrasive than the inner side. The higher quality cordovan have the inner softer side on top.

He explained that when stropping you want to use the linnen first to remove the oil off of the blade edge. Follow that by the outerside slightly textured non-cordovan horsehide. And to finally finish with the cordivan. He said that this progession is the best.

There were also some shorter non-cordovan horsehide strops that weren't labeled Pelican that were the same feel as my TM horsehide. The difference between these and the thicker pelican ones was thickness and a non textured top side.

After spending about an hour talking about leather and strops, I came away with one of his textured non-cordovan Pelikan Strops and a Llama 70000. The Llama 70000 is the top of the Llama range and is very rare. The reason being, that he very rarely can source such thick cordovan to make one. Most of the ones he makes now are thinner yet are still cordovan.

A word on the numbers assigned to each strop. Each 'branding' has its own numbering system. In each line the highest numbers are the thickest leather. But all of the cordovan strops are the same in every other respect. So if you have a Fine Stars and think 'I shold get a Llama 50000!' Well the only difference is going to be the thickness of the leather.

He has also stopped making strops with sewn handles and the sewing was getting to be too much trouble.

Now on to the pictures.


His store front doubles as the front door to his home.

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Here is a line-up of Llama strops.

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A picture of the 70000.

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Here is the Pelican 'American Type'. You can see the texture of the outer skin on the top of the strop.

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And the man himself.

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That's all, I hope you enjoyed it.
笑う門に福来る。
SiR-ed8

Post by SiR-ed8 »

Seth,

Did you get anymore Kanayama's since then?

I know few who've gotten 90k and fear of stropping with it which I think is a waste if you're not going to put it to use.
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ZethLent
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Post by ZethLent »

I have no fear to strop on my 70000

If I screw it up I'll pay him another visit. :)

TBH though I haven't marked it even once and at this point I have used it for thousands of back and forths.

I haven't marked a strop in a very long time, now that I think about it.

Neither of my HA strops or my Llama have any 'damage'. My TM on the other hand has a few battly scars.
笑う門に福来る。
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Pureslab
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Post by Pureslab »

Fantastic photo essay post , almost makes you feel like you were there !
SiR-ed8

Post by SiR-ed8 »

ZethLent wrote:I have no fear to strop on my 70000

If I screw it up I'll pay him another visit. :)

TBH though I haven't marked it even once and at this point I have used it for thousands of back and forths.

I haven't marked a strop in a very long time, now that I think about it.

Neither of my HA strops or my Llama have any 'damage'. My TM on the other hand has a few battly scars.
You and Jim are so fortunate to be local to very fine craftsman. Would you say Kanayama is in class of its own being the best strop compared to any other? Jim felt same way and I wasn't surprised according to his description as well as yours. Judging from pics and feedback from some I reckon it's soft but yet thick and durable for 60k, 70k, 80k, and 90k are meant to be with only difference being 6cm longer on counterparts.

My 3" black SRD Latigo is equivalent to stropping on old dirty cardboard. I'm only using my custom strop now.

One of these days I'll pick up Kanayama to be paired with the kamisori.
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drmoss_ca
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Post by drmoss_ca »

SiR-ed8 wrote: My 3" black SRD Latigo is equivalent to stropping on old dirty cardboard. I'm only using my custom strop now.
I'd say that's a bit harsh. The SRD latigo strops are equivalent to those sold by Tony Miller and a couple of other suppliers. I have found them very good.

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
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matt321
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Post by matt321 »

I finally gave up on latigo (mine was a TM). The surface "feel" was too unstable in changing humidity conditions. That's bad if you live on an island like I do. Somtimes it felt smooth, other times it felt like rubber. :cry:

Maybe it was just me. If yours is working then I'm happy for you.
SiR-ed8

Post by SiR-ed8 »

drmoss_ca wrote:
SiR-ed8 wrote: My 3" black SRD Latigo is equivalent to stropping on old dirty cardboard. I'm only using my custom strop now.
I'd say that's a bit harsh. The SRD latigo strops are equivalent to those sold by Tony Miller and a couple of other suppliers. I have found them very good.

Chris
Mine was inconsistent. I know selecting pieces for strops is quite a feat. I'm no expert but it doesn't take one to know that the performance wasn't as good as expected. It was rubbery. Perhaps others have experienced this and others didn't. Unfortunately mine was one of few that fell short.

Chris, I'm glad yours performed to your liking though.
ferroburak
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Post by ferroburak »

Thanks for the thread
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matt321
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Post by matt321 »

This is still a mystery for me. I have several hanging strops and paddles. Sometimes one will perform like magic. Then a few weeks later another. I'm still confused as to why.
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