Thread: What makes a strop

Originally Posted by khaos

A strop make could say better than I, but a quick and dirty answer would be "draw, surface, and supple-ness" A napped/slightly sueded finish increase draw vs. a smooth surface, certain leathers have different draws (latigo>horse hide) and different weights/types of leather have different suppleness (see ChrisL's post...). It was hard for me to understand until I asked strop makers to send me off-cuts from their strops and then I could clearly see/feel the difference.

That's a good place to start. How does draw affect a strop's performance?

draw=friction basically