All About Pocket Knives

I have a Pike Manufacturing Co. strop and have found out a lot about it but I've hit a wall trying to find out about a strop I just found in an antique store. I tried under the apparent name, MONARK with the model? #123, no results , however there are references to MONARK , other model or pattern numbers. The word "shell" seems to show up in e-bay ads, to what does this refer? Is there any way to date this strop and know where it was made and by what company?

The strop has two pieces, one says horsehide the other boar. These pieces are 18" long and 2.5" wide. Each piece has a sewn on 6" split leather handle with the gold markings. Total length is 24" plus the clamp. The "clamp" or "bracket" that holds the two leathers together is a brass plated metal that is fairly well made with a screw through the face and a thread on the back. The swivel and snap are also well made.

I don't mind digging for info, but for some reason nothing has shown up yet. Any help would be appreciated !
Treefarmer

There is a difference between shell and hide. Shell is actually a muscle from the buttocks of the horse that requires a specialized tanning process. Which means expensive. Nice looking strop there!

Wayne

Sounds like Wayne explained it best. I don't know much about strops but i would guess the boar side is to sharpen and the shell side to polish. Very interesting strop you got there. Very cool find!

Mabey we should start a strop thread to share a few.

btrwtr wrote:There is a difference between shell and hide. Shell is actually a muscle from the buttocks of the horse that requires a specialized tanning process. Which means expensive. Nice looking strop there!

Wayne

Shell is actually the hide off the horses rump rather than the muscle. Cordovan is the name given to horsehide that isn't classed as the "shell".

As for the manufacturer? Like razors, a lot of barber supply companies had their own name applied to a product.

I prefer a shell strop, they have less "pull" than a cow hide strop. All that means is the razor slides over the strop a bit easier.

Thanks for the input. I know one thing, it has "tuned up" the edges of the several knives I used it on!
I need to study up on the care of a strop and not be guilty of messin' this one up .
Treefarmer

treefarmer wrote:Thanks for the input. I know one thing, it has "tuned up" the edges of the several knives I used it on!
I need to study up on the care of a strop and not be guilty of messin' this one up .
Treefarmer

It's been said by the old hands, (and I use this tactic on my shell strop), that if you'll rub your face and get your hand oily, then rub that hand on the face of the strop until the strop warms a bit. Supposedly the natural oil from your face is all that the strop needs to stay supple. I dust mine off occasionally with a dry towel before I rub my hand on it.

For what it's worth, I have three strops. Two are cow hide, and the other is an old "CERTIFYD" shell with fake Russian Cyrillic markings. It's an old barber's strop, three inches wide and nearly a yard long. Has a coarse linen strop attached.


Back in the day, Scottish and Russian shell were advertised to be the best there was.

Best thing to watch for is sharp corners on the spine of your razors. They'll scratch the strop sometimes. If you haven't cut it by now, you're probably not going to. Just be careful when you reach the end of the stroke and flip the razor or knife. Taken care of, those things will outlast our kids.

Looking at the "123" with the wreath around it, makes me think your strop and mine may have been made by the same company, although your strop is built like a lot of the vintage Illinois Razor Strop Company's strops. It's a good one either way.

The way I understand it is that what gives the Shell it's unique properties is the muscle that the horse uses to shoo flies by flinching the hide on it's butt.

Here are 2 links that might help add to the confusion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_cordovan

http://bestleather.org/all-about-shell- ... eather-co/

Wayne

btrwtr,
Interesting articles, but reading the Wikipedia article, seems like they are not really understanding where leather comes from. That's a new one to me that it would come from under the hide and actually be a "flat fibrous muscle" . The flinching or quivering to shoo the flies with a muscle makes sense, as it would condition the hide to be more flexible, but not the piece of "steak" below the hide .
You are right, it does add to the confusion! Maybe, I'll ask my pa-in-law, he's an old time cowboy/butcher/meat packer that has processed some horses many years ago.
Treefarmer

I think the second link answers it pretty well.

Shell cordovan is always in short supply. This is due to the limited amount of suitable horsehides available, and also the long tanning process. It varies quite a bit as well. Currently we are only able to produce about half as much as we were producing 2 years ago.

And
https://thedistance.com/horween/

Shell cordovan comes from the inner membrane of the horse posterior. The horse butts are draped over rods and submerged in “pits,” or low pools filled with Horween’s proprietary vegetable tanning solution made from tree barks, for 30 days. After tanning, the hides are carefully shaved, a process that exposes the outline of the inner membrane,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_cordovan

After removal from the horse, the hide is measured from the root of the tail 18 inches forward on the backbone. The hide is cut at right angles to the backbone and the resulting pieces termed a "front" (the forward part) and the "butt". The term cordovan leather applies to the product of both the tanned fronts and tanned butts, but is especially used in connection with the term galoshes, meaning the vamps or boot-fronts cut from the shell of the butt.[3]

After being tanned, leather from the "front" is typically used in the fabrication of gloves, or blackened, to be used in the tops of shoes. The "butt", after tanning, is passed through a splitting-machine which removes the grain, or hair side, revealing what is termed the "shell". The close fibers of the shell result in a smooth and pliable leather used almost exclusively in the manufacture of shoes [3] and watch straps, although another use is for the manufacture of finger protection tabs for recreational archery, where it is prized for its toughness, longevity, and protective qualities.