Thread: Hand American Chicago Special & Signature Strops

Well I have had a couple of HA strops for a couple three weeks and have been giving my time on them wholely to the new Chicago Special with the 'Russian' ebossed back. Keith has said that this strop is perfect for heavy ground blades and that it will naturally increase in 'roughness' over time. I really like the feel of the strop. It is very stiff and has a great feel in use. The diamond back is also very nice. I compare it to my Kanayama Pelican and the accompanying cloth component. But the Chicago side is something different than anything I have used so far. It is a smooth draw but not slick (if you can understand the difference). A different feel from the Tony Miller Horsehide strop, which is very fast (almost too fast for me).

The edges off of it have all been very smooth and I have tried it on razors from full hollow to near wedge. The feel is great on all of them.

The other strop I got in the same order was the English Bridle and Cordovan glued combination. I pulled this strop out for the first time last night and boy was I surprised. The English Bridle side feels exactly how I want a strop to feel. Honey smooth! I like it so much I did twice the number of laps on it as I normally would do.

The Cordovan side is a very nice flamed chocolate colour with the feel very similar to my Kanayama Llama 70000. The only difference is the stiffnes of the leather due too it being glued.

At present I have 5 strops. A TM Latigo/Horsehide 3", a Kanayama Llama 70000, a Kanayama Pelican, a HA Chicago Special and finally the HA Signature strop with English Bridle and Cordovan. At present both of the Hand American Strops and the Kanayama Llama are all tied for most favourite. As good as the TM and Pelican strops are I find that I haven't used either for months.

The Hand American strops are well worth the price and are a great addition to any straight razor shaver's repetoire.

I'll be using the Signature strop again tonight!!