Thread: The Paladin by RupRazor

So I just got my Paladin from Ken and at the request of another member am reviewing it. I don't have a TON of experience with strops, so take whatever I say with a grain of salt, and I will try and explain all my rankings as well as I can to help with this.

I ordered the Paladin in 2.5" horse hide, with canvas strop and leather handles. When I pulled it out of the box it had a very slight napping/sueding, that seemed silky smooth. The strop was well broken in, flat, and good to go. However, I discovered that if i took my fingers and worked the leather, the napping settles a bit and I found that I actually prefer a "half-nap" lol. It creates a silky draw and still allows for the slick horse hide feel. Included in the package is a pumice stone for you to refresh your finish, or add more, or fix nicks or whatever you want.

IMHO the horse hide component is a fantastic everyday strop. The canvas is nothing to right home about, but is highly functional and effective in its use (its canvas, not rocket science lol). The overall score I would give this is a 9.5-10 (because I don't think the categories are evenly weighted, and there should be an "ensemble" or "whole package" or "effectiveness" category that this would get a 10 in).

Feedback- 9. The surface is slightly napped and this gives amazing feedback. Best I can describe is like stropping on melted butter. Its smooth and glides, but theres that little bit of a sticky feeling to it. Also seems somewhat magnetic (not ACTUALLY magnetic) but the razor just likes to stay on the strop I guess.

Speed- 9. Now here's the thing. I can get more speed out of traditional horsehide- my red imp, illinois and medal of award are all a little faster. HOWEVER- the way I broke mine in the speed is almost up there. The draw while very apparent (see feedback) is also very light. If that makes any sense.

Durability- 8. Dunno how to guage this but it seems very sturdy and well made. Would be a 10, but the nap settles down over time which for some might be bad. He does include a pumice stone that brings it right back, but since it doesn't technically hold its finish I'll knock a couple points off.

Size- 10. Length is AMPLE. I am a tall guy with long arms and I feel like there is a little extra room for me even. I was running out of space on the Illinois and MOA, but not on this baby. Width doesn't matter as it is available in 2" 2.5" and 3" and since Kenrup is an awesome dude he can probably custom anything you ask for.

Craftsmanship- 9.5. The craftsmanship is beautiful. Loses half a point because of minor cosmetic flaws- slight asymmetry in the handle and rivets. Nothing I would get up in arms about, doesn't affect the strop one bit.

Portability- 5. Not really a strop designed to be portable, but it is very supple, so one might roll it a bit tighter? I dunno. I feel like I'm not porting my hanging strops all that much anyways so...

THE BOTTOM LINE: If I were to make the decision again, I would buy it again. No doubts. Its a work of art and highly functional.

I have Ken's Paladin as well. I don't care for number ratings. I will say this, It's a quality strop. I have the 3 inch model. I've come to prefer the wider strops these days. Ken does quality and work, and his materials are top notch. I highly recommend his strops.

Just got mine in 2 and halv inch very nice draw and very silky recomended. I think i would of preferd the 3inch that all.

I'm not much one into numbers, either. I received my 3" Paladin 2 days ago; I did not order the linen, I did order the D ring, which works well. It's a very nice strop -- much, much nicer and more solid than the Filly strop, which served its purpose for me when I first started using straights. Frankly, I'd held off on getting the Paladin in part because the Filly (2.5") seemed so basic, and compared to an SRD latigo, insubstantial.

But the Paladin holds its own against my 3" latigo. It's solid -- and longer by 3-4 inches than the SRD, which was a pleasant surprise.

I've just started playing around with this after the SRD latigo, but so far, so good. It really brought to life a restoration razor which had seemed sort of ho-hum.

The price can't be beat for horsehide, and I found that D-rings work just as well for me as handles.

As usual, Ken's service was fast and professional. If you've been on the fence, I'd say go for it. If it's not your taste, no doubt you can recover much of the value in resale.