Thread: Too heavy of draw damaging edge?

I am testing several strops from a well known maker and the Roo strop to me has a heavy draw that causes the razor to almost be pulled from my hand but not on all razors so i can honestly see where a heavy draw could affect an edge with bad stropping, I don't believe a faster or slower draw gives a better edge I do believe correct stropping on either is what does it.

Originally Posted by Jnatcat

I am testing several strops from a well known maker and the Roo strop to me has a heavy draw that causes the razor to almost be pulled from my hand but not on all razors so i can honestly see where a heavy draw could affect an edge with bad stropping, I don't believe a faster or slower draw gives a better edge I do believe correct stropping on either is what does it.

I think the strop I have has super heavy draw and is also somewhat sticky which I believe is pulling the very apex left and right weakening the edge, even with holding the strop taught!

Originally Posted by Jnatcat

I am testing several strops from a well known maker and the Roo strop to me has a heavy draw that causes the razor to almost be pulled from my hand but not on all razors so i can honestly see where a heavy draw could affect an edge with bad stropping, I don't believe a faster or slower draw gives a better edge I do believe correct stropping on either is what does it.

I am surprised by this. I've used at least 4 roo strops and found all of them to have very light draw.

I prefer a strop that I can just detect the draw as I like a small amount of feedback. Heavy draw strops tend to throw off my rhythm and I feel like I could roll the edge a lot easier

Originally Posted by Utopian

I am surprised by this. I've used at least 4 roo strops and found all of them to have very light draw.

Well to be honest i am not sure it's Roo, the Vendor sent me three strops to test and the only caviate was don't cut them and he identified each one in an email and said this colored one was Roo and this was Spanish HH and this was Cordovan but the strops upon arrival were not marked so I may have the Roo and Italian HH mixed up

I have what I would consider 1 heavy draw strop and one fast strop or light draw. I agree with the fact that the heavier draw strop is pressure sensitive, I have also found that tension plays a factor. If I am a bit lax while using my heavy draw strop it gets really difficult to get a smooth stroke, but if I put a extra bit of tension on it then it helps a lot. As far as if it is actually affecting the edge? I guess I can not see how it is aside from what we know a strop to do which is align the edge, I don't believe it to be stretching or pulling the metal. JMO

Originally Posted by Jnatcat

Well to be honest i am not sure it's Roo, the Vendor sent me three strops to test and the only caviate was don't cut them and he identified each one in an email and said this colored one was Roo and this was Spanish HH and this was Cordovan but the strops upon arrival were not marked so I may have the Roo and Italian HH mixed up

In my rather limited experience, roo strops tend to be much thinner than other strops.

I completely forgot to mention all this heavy draw stropping question has mainly showed up right after honing a fresh blade. I have a Portland Razor Co English bridle strop that is new and fast, using it last night after honing another 1/4 hollow blade I found after 50 laps it did practically nothing to the edge. So still I test shaved with it and the results told me the PRC strop did nothing to prepare the edge for shaving comfortably!!!

Is the newness of the strop the reason it affects the so little? Should I strop more laps on a new strop because it is not broken in?

Ive tested a Roo strop once and i back up what Utopian says. Not that my words hold much. It was much thinner, very flexable, not stretch to it at all and felt fast to me. I plan on getting one some day.

My Roo strop is also a fast strop. And as said a much thinner strop as well

A strop being new should still align the steel edge, possibly not quite as well as a well broken in one. But still do the job it's meant to do. It sounds to me as if your stropping technique needs some refinement. Is the strop being held with some tension? If not then it is not going to do what it's meant to