February 2022 Update

Dear friends & customers.

I am receiving an enormous amount of enquiries, and if you have sent me a message, please do accept my apologies that it will have gone unanswered.

2021 brought several life events that held me back from strop production - namely the birth of my daughter and the sad death of my mother.

For several months now I’ve been undertaking an extension on my house, and I’m not expecting to finish this until mid-2022. As many will know, making strops remains a hobby business that I undertake in my spare time. So juggling family, employment, and work on my house extension, I’m afraid this currently leaves no time for making strops.

However, I can state with absolute conviction that I have every intention of returning to production just as soon as time allows. I would hope that new strops will be available in the latter half of 2022, just as soon as my house extension is complete.

The number of enquiries I am receiving is very humbling, and I again apologise that at present they are going unanswered. Rest assured that all the messages I receive are logged automatically, and once I get back to production, I’ll be sure to check with you all whether you are still interested.

Looking forward to returning to bringing you new Westholme strops towards the end of 2022.

Kind Regards,

Alastair.

Family bereavement

Unfortunately, after the joy of my baby daughter being born just under two months ago, 2021 has now dealt a cruel blow with my mother passing away after a very sudden and rapid illness. As such there is a further delay on the next batch of strops, which I now foresee being available in late April.

Baby daughter! Slight delay to next batch of strops!

My baby daughter was born in second week of January, so current strop work is on hold for a couple of weeks whilst we adjust to our new family member! I now expect the next batch of strops to be available end of February.

Website update in progress

Currently in the process of updating this website. Some streamlining and general refreshing!

Contact forms have been reinstated, so please feel free to get in touch with me if you so wish. I’ll endeavour to answer all messages, but please bear with me. As a rule I’m not accepting custom orders, but I usually have strops in production and can thus let you know when a new batch will be available, or let you know whether what you are looking for is likely to feature in the next release. So please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

I’m aware that my use of Facebook as a platform to advertise new batches of strops for sale, is limiting my audience - so please expect to find a new section of this website in the coming days, where you can see strops that are available for immediate purchase. All you’ll need to do is send me a message and let me know which one you want.

Return to production

I have returned to strop production! Presently in the process of making around 20 strops, for immediate sale via my Facebook page, and eBay.

Not presently accepting custom orders - I still don’t have the time for the lengthy customer communication that it involves.

Contact forms will be re-instated on my website soon, but I won’t be able to reply to all enquiries I’m afraid.

New leathers on the horizon too, which I’m excited about. Possibly I will discontinue Latigo, with the quality of hides having dropped significantly since I first started making strops. But it will be replaced with a much finer substitute.

Good to be back!

Alastair.

Changes at Westholme strops

My girlfriend and I have just bought a house - a Victorian period property which is in need of serious renovation and modernisation.

As such, the time I have available for making strops, and the all important customer communication, lengthy custom order discussions etc, will greatly diminish to the point where it simply won't be workable.

I still wish to make strops, but for a time my work will have to move away from custom work individual to each customer. Instead I'll make a handful of strops as and when I have time, and advertise them for immediate purchase via my website, eBay, and here on my Facebook page. How long will this go on for? Difficult to say - but I envisage at least 12 to 18 months.

I will certainly revert to custom work once our house is a home. Work on an old property like this will probably never end, but I have every intention of continuing my strop work, and the custom aspect of it will certainly return in the not too distant future.

Thanks as always for your continued support.

Alastair.

Joining Materials

The 'joining materials' section of this website is in desperate need of updating, as some of the materials listed are no longer available.  When I run out of a popular material, I always endeavour to find a suitable replacement. Unfortunately I haven't yet found the time to photograph the materials I now have on offer, and update the website.  But I will do this as soon as possible.

For the time being, please refer to the following list:-

MATERIAL                                           AVAILABILITY

Black Latigo                                        In stock

Brown Latigo                                      In stock

Tan Latigo                                           No longer available (Replacement being sought)

Black Calf skin                                   Out of stock

Brown Gator print                             Withdrawn

Red Croc print                                    In stock

Tan Croc print                                    Very low stock (Not enough for handles)

Beige reptile print                             In stock

Pig skin suede                                    No longer available (Replacement being sought)

Brown Nubuck                                   No longer available (Replaced with Outrigger)

Outrigger                                              In stock

Black scale print                                No longer available

Tan reptile print                                 No longer available

Red Croc print (older version)        No longer available (Replaced with new version)

Strop lead time increases

December orders are mounting, and therefore so is the lead time - New orders taken during the rest of December are unlikely to be finished prior to Christmas, though this does depend on the design of the strop.

At the moment expect to wait around 3 weeks between payment and dispatch.

Shell Cordovan price increase

As a consumer, I dislike price increases - particularly sudden ones. Unfortunately, as a 'manufacturer' I have come to realise that material costs are fluid, and ever increasing.

The combination of high worldwide demand, and lower yield of raw material, means Horween Shell Cordovan has increased in price over the last few years. Each Shell now costs me around 35% more than it did two years ago.

Sadly this is a cost that is impossible for me to absorb, so with immediate effect there will be an increase in the price of my Shell Cordovan strops. I have tried to keep them at a competitive level for quite some time, and in the last two years the price has only increased by about £15 (GBP).

Fortunately the quality of individual Horween Shell Cordovan hides remains at the absolute highest of levels.

As always I thank you all for your understanding, and continued patronage.