Are all Russia strops horse, I have a vintage Rubin strop made in NY USA, it says Russia in big bold letters, the back of the strop is Red and not like my other strops ie: Suede. How can you tell if a strop is horse or Cowhide... tia
Okay let me see if I can get this right It is my understanding that the Russian Strop is referencing the "Finish" on the strop ie; a Russian uses the Napped side of the strop and is usually "Cut" or stripped on the backside to make it more flexible It is designed to be a Medium Heavy Draw Now that being said I also heard that the "Russia" strops were first made from Horse Shell only, and the Cowhide was only introduced later I hope that helps because it is all I got
That's excellent info, clears up a lot...especially the back of the strop being different so many thanks for that. I was beginning to wonder why there were no replies, I am still a noob (1 year into straights) and I thought my question would be flooded with replies...so maybe not so many knew this. I still watch your vids and have learnt loads from them, so thanks for that too and keep up the good work .
'Russia' can also refer to the tanning process, and would refer to vegetable tanned leather using birch, alder, hemlock, etc. rather than oak tanned leather. Russian tannning is faster than regular veg tanning, and strips out more oils, resulting in a harder leather. It also tends to die the leather a reddish color. Unless marked otherwise, assume all vintage strops to be made from shell leather (horsehide). Edit: the fact that the back of the strop doesn't show grain (suede) and is smooth is also an argument for the strop being shell. Shell, strictly speaking, is leather, but isn't made from hide. It is made from the thin layer of muscle on a horse's hindquarters. The lack of drafthorses used in farming has dried up the supply of shell horsehide in the size and thickness required for the best strops (3+ inches wide and 4+mm thick). A vintage shell strop is easily the equivalent of a $200-300 modern shell strop.
Thanks planofman, more great info, the leather does feel hard, I have given it 2 coats of mink oil gently heated with a hairdryer then left to soak overnight in a warm room, next day removed the excess and let it hang...there was a definite improvement so done the process again, and again i felt a improvement in the hardness/ suppleness so I gave it a good rub out with a microfibre cloth then a soft cloth and finally rubbed it vigorously over my knee/ denims, this worked well too, so I had two blades needing a good strop and gave them each 100 laps, the blades prolly need a wee bit on a stone to bring them back, but the strop did feel a kinda middle to heavy draw compared with my main strop...it is defo heavier than that, I think it may need some time to settle but I am for now happy with it, thanks again for the replies guys .
Be careful with mink oil. Most are blends, containing mink oil, silicone, and lanolin. Silicone drys out leather. My personal preference is Dr. Marten's Wonder Balsam, which is a combination of coconut oil, beeswax, and lanolin. The beeswax slows down the zippy fast draw to something a little more manageable. Other folks have their own preferred leather dressing. I've never heard of anyone ruining a strop over time with any of the things you can put on a strop, so it probably doesn't matter.
The rear fotos do not really show how red the rear is...it looks browny red on here, but is really quite a vibrant red
The cloth strop looks like linen. Nice! Edit: Nice restore on the strop. That leather was looking rather cracked where it hasn't been sanded down.
It was, there were quite a few scattered all over so i used 400, 800 and 1200, I could have got more dirt out but I felt it may have taken more of the leather than I wanted, the linen strop was really filthy but came up ok, I will give if a wash in the dishwasher next then put some white paste on it.
I was lucky enough to pick up a vintage NOS from the USA, I like mine so much I sold my Kanayama, it has a beautiful draw a medium-fast draw love the feel and surface of that strop, I also really like the linen component.