The Kanayama Cordovan Strop is one of the finest razor strops available. It comes in a wide range of styles suited to any budget, but all models have the same basic qualities: the are all handmade of the finest cordovan leather by Yoshimasa Naomi-san, the son of the company's founder.
Kanoyama Cordovan specialists was founded before the Second World War by Yoshimasa's father. Yoshimasa entred the company 59 years ago, at the age of 18. At the time, there was stiff competition in the strop market, with 18 other companies in Tokyo alone. In order to compete, Yoshimasa worked to find the perfect combination of leather and fabric, and spent more than ten years investigating the best way to treat and condition the cordovan leather he had settled on to make it the best possible leather strop he could. Through trial and error, he discovered the perfect level of hand sanding, oiling, and finishing to result in unbelievably smooth, soft leather that needs no breaking in, and gives an unsurpassed finish to a shaving edge. Now, Kanoyama is the only company making razors strops in Japan...and the quality of their products attests to why that is.
Today, each strop is made by hand by Yoshimasa and his wife (an inseperable team!)in the same way, with the true care and desire for perfection that has kept Kanoyama in business for nearly a century.
Naomi-san's decades of experience help him in selecting the best leather for use in his strops; the varying grades (10000-90000) are rated by the length, thickness and uniformity of the leather. As the strop numbers go up, the leather increases in thickness and length, and it becomes increasingly difficult to find leather of sufficient quality and size; thus the highest grades (70000, 80000, and 90000) are exceptionally difficult to source, and their elite price reflects this rarity.
However, all of the strops, regardless of price, are made of high quality leather, with the same attention to detail and quality that is the hallmark of the true craftsman.( Text © 2009 Jim Rion, photos used by permission of the photographer)
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