drmoss_ca wrote:Not at all happy with the chrome stropping on top of the 20k edge, so last night I did 12 passes on the 12k Naniwa and 12 passes on the Gokumyo 20k and this morning all was well again. The edge is nice enough that I may just choose to do the above every three weeks if that's what it takes.
BTW, Chris, I went back to knifecenter.com and ordered a 3" red russian strop, but got a phonecall to say the strop isn't red but brown, isn't Jemico but is made by Dovo, and says it is a russian finish. I said to send it to me anyway, but I suspect I might end up with another brown Dovo curled-up special. Did you get a red velvety one as advertised, or is yours like the one I am being sent? I would dearly like to get a 3" version of the 2" red russian, which is such a delight to use.
Chris
Dr. Moss, I have been remiss to post back about the Red Russian wide Strop. I suspect you got a call because what I received was another "brown" wide strop. I sent it back as I already have one.
I called Knifecenter when I received it and talked to one of their CSR's and it turns out that the Red Russian wide strop has been discontinued since production was taken over by Dovo but Dovo never informed them. The CSR said they would change the website to reflect the new knowledge. I think as of now it shows as "Discontinued" (Western Civilization continues to crumble!).
To my eye the new "brown" strop isn't quite the same quality of my old one but that may be due to aesthetics. I didn't have the chance to evaluate it from a performance standpoint because it went right back in the box and back to the Kifecenter. But, the back isn't that crinkly red pressing that Jemico does but a flat black. So perhaps it's just a style point but I like the red crinkly backing, it had character.
I've actually done more searching for the elusive Wide Red Russian Jemico just to see if I could find find any old stock. Nada. I did find a "Herold, Wild Juchten" version that looks like the Jemico but I have my doubts. Looking at the pictures it looks a lot more like my 30 Degree strop from Royal Shave which is NOT the equivalent of the old Red Russian Jemicos. The coloring is slightly different which is the giveaway. The 30 Degree strop is cheaper than it's tan version for a reason - it's different and doesn't have anything like the draw of a Jemico. It's a good strop, it's very slick with little to no drawl. It will NOT do what a true Jemico Red Russian will do IMHO.
My promise to you is if I ever find a quantity of the old Jemico Wide Red Russian strops somewhere I will buy at least two and send you one. So if you get a package from me out of the blue you'll know why but it's looking very grim for this.
Best,
Chris