We’ve recently introduced the Jende Kangaroo and Leather strops on color-coded acrylic to our lineup. The inevitable question arises: “which one is better?” As usual, the answer is “it depends.” Both mediums offer excellence, and this article aims to provide a better understanding for you to make an informed choice based on your specific needs.
Both Kangaroo and Cow leathers are vegetable-tanned animal skins, providing a natural foundation. Cow leather has a longer history of use for stropping, whereas Kangaroo leather gained more accessibility relatively recently.
Kangaroo leather, ounce for ounce, boasts approximately ten times the tensile strength of cow leather. This implies less compression in Kangaroo strops compared to Cow strops, advantageous for scenarios like straight razor honing. Yet, the Cow leather’s compression could be more fitting for matching convex edge shapes.
Under a microscope, the Cow leather exhibits a relatively smooth and consistent surface with raised polyp-shaped mounds. On the other hand, Kangaroo leather displays smoothness with divots corresponding to embedded hair follicles. This difference significantly influences their respective stropping actions.
The raised polyps on Cow leather could result in more aggressive but less consistent stropping due to the abrasive’s deeper scratches at the polyps and shallower ones in between. Kangaroo leather’s divots create a more consistent contact surface during stropping. While less aggressive, the Kangaroo leather’s scratches are less deep but more uniform across the blade edge, resulting in a different form of aggression.
In essence, the Cow leather’s polyps create a more aggressive but potentially less uniform stropping surface, while Kangaroo leather offers a smoother and more consistent medium. This information aids in selecting the most suitable stropping medium based on your needs, although it doesn’t factor in technique and pressure.
For instance, a Cow leather strop could be more effective for a 2K edge on a hunting knife, maintaining the edge with force. Alternatively, a Kangaroo strop might be ideal for a straight razor, offering a more uniform and gentle abrasion. These differences pave the way for various possibilities and applications based on specific edge needs.
