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!

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....).

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...