I have a TM Starter strop that I have had for quite some time now (I also have a TM Artisan, and a Kintaka horsehide strop). I had previously tried to increase the draw by adding the supplied neatsfoot oil (it had been fine, I pretty much was just screwing around with it...). However, after doing so, the strop seemed to get smother and slicker, and pretty much lost all of its' draw. I tried adding more neatsfoot, but to no avail, it was quite slick now. One other thing: adding neatsfoot oil will make your strop a rather plain brown, as opposed to the warm reddish tone of the latigo as it comes from Tony...
The latigo Artisan I haven't oiled at all, and still has nice draw. The Kintaka is a horshide strop with zero draw as well, but that is to be expected of horsehide.
So, I figured I didn't have anything to lose with the Starter. I hit it up with some 400grit sandpaper. I wrapped the sandpaper around a bottle, pulled the strop fairly taut, and rubbed the bottle up and down the strop for a while. It was easy to see immediate effects, as the dark brown leather was quickly abraded into a much lighter brown. So, I had at it for a little bit. But now my strop looked rather ugly--no longer a nice uniform color, it looked as if someone had taken some sandpaper to it or something!:nono::cry:
Well, since I had previously given the strop a pretty good dose of the ol' neatfoot, all that was required to get it back to a nice rich, uniform brown was to rub the strop for a bit with the heel of my palm.This also helped remove the sanded off leather dingleberries (I'm sure that's the technical terminology used in Tony's shop....:rolleyes:).
Anyhow, the strop is back in top form again. It has tremendous draw and a very slight nap to it.
The only drawback as of now (I just did this a couple of days ago) is that after stropping a razor there is brown strop residue left on the razor. Right up by the honing bevel. No big deal, a quick wipe on a towel gets rid of it, and I imagine it will stop doing this after some use.
I'm now contemplating giving the Kintaka horsehide some sandpaper massage as well. I love that strop, beautiful leather, feels awesome to hold, but I don't get much enjoyment out of zero draw stropping...
We'll see...