Perhaps one of the reasons the pre-made strops being offered by a strop company get such rave reviews is that the people who buy them have never used a really good strop to judge them against? Stropping with almost ANYTHING is going to give results above and beyond what the stone leaves, and make people believe that it's the magic of the particular strop rather than the simple stropping action itself.
A company that spends more time advertising the quality, time and energy spent making its wooden bases rather than the time and energy spent processing the leather part of the strop gives me cause to wonder... If you want a pre-made strop, take a look at strops offered by old, established shaving equipment companies. Their adverts talk about the leather used, not the pretty bases. But be prepared to spend some bucks...
On the other hand, for just a few dollars and an hour's time, you can make the world's best leather strop. It's not rocket science. It's just compressing vegetable tanned leather, and you can do it with a rolling pin. The more you compress it, the better it becomes. How good do you want your strop to be?
Stitchawl
