Thread: MickR's Roo Hide Strop

I thought I'd heard of them all. Cow hide, horse hide... Buffalo even. But roo? That was a new one to me! So when Mick offered me the chance to try one of his new roo hide strops I lept at the chance, and a week later I was holding a brand new strop.

These strops are well made with durable and eye catching brass hardware and come with a leather tie at one end which makes it easy to hook the strop onto something.

They're a great length too, around 20" stropping surface is available and they are available in 2", 2.5" and 3" width. Mine is a 2.5" width strop so I needed to do a slight X stroke to make contact with the full width of the razor. Its really great that so many options are available in width, so you really can get the perfect size you want.

The thing that suprised me the most is how thin the leather is. My other strop is an SRD 3" latigo and the leather on that is a few millimetres thick but this strop has a very fine supple leather that is around 1mm in thickness. This also makes the strop an excellent travel strop as you can bend it around the edge of a bag without worrying about creasing the leather, which thicker leather will do quite easily if you are not careful.

Despite the leathers thinness there is no cupping, and the leather has a gorgeous suedey feel. Not to mention that wonderful leather smell when you open the packaging! :) That scent alone is worth the price of admission!

The performance of the strop is first class. I'd been after a strop with more draw and this one really hits the spot IMO. It has enough draw to let you know you're stropping but not so much that you feel like you're dragging the razor through molasses!

I've noticed after a few uses now that the draw is settling down a bit and has reduced slightly, so I'm interested to see how she performs in a few months.

I didnt need to break the strop in when I got it, it was ready to go right out of the box, and gave a silky smooth buttery draw. This really is one of those strops that you just want to keep on using even once you're done, the blade feels that good on the leather!

About the only criticism I can think of (and this is me being really picky!) is that the edges of the strop arent perfectly straight. Mick makes these strops by hand (so this adds character to the strop I think) and it makes absolutely no difference to the performance. The fact that this is the only thing I can think of should indicate how good these strops are.

There isnt a fabric component but it is possible to use the scrubbier side of the leather first then the smooth side in the same way. Or you could paste the other side of the leather if you wanted to, for touch ups.

I stuck with one razor and this strop for a week and the edge is still A1 after a week of daily use. No degradation in the edge, no loss of performace, nothing. This strop does exactly what its supposed to do, and it does it very well.

And starting at US$25 for the 2" wide version (US$30 for the 2.5" and going up to US$35 for the 3") it does it at a great price as well. Postage will vary depending on where you are, so theres no silly postage charges either! Payment is made in Australian Dollars.

For those of you coming to the London meet in November, this strop will be there for you to try..! For everyone else, you'll need to talk to Mick! :D

If you're in the market for a new strop and are after something a little bit different, do yourself a favour and get a Roo hide strop. You wont be disappointed!

A few more pictures!

I have been using Mick's Roo 3" Strop for one full week now and I am really enjoying it. As a noob with under 1/2 a year straight shaving experience, one of the hardest things for me to "get" was stropping. Mick's strop is very thin, and it is a huge benefit to me as I can now really feel what I am doing while stropping. I have a much better sence of draw and overall feedback. My stropping is much lighter, overall, and I am finding that my edge has improved with the better technique.

I wouldn't recommend for a brand new stropper - get your nicks out of the way first. After that, then the Roo strop is fair game and in my limited experience, a product that will quickly allow you to "get" it.

Thank you Mick for a great product.