Thread: Strop lost its draw

Hello, I have a leather big daddy strop that lost its draw. I put couple drops of neatsfoot oil on my hands and rubbed them together then rubbed the strop. Repeated the same. It sat overnight and still doesnt have any draw. Any suggestions? There are no tears or other blemishes and the finish is not damaged in any way. Maybe a light sand with sandpaper and then oil again? I dont know. Thanks.

bill,

I wouldn't add anymore Neatsfoot oil. Just use the palm of your hand and rub it briskly the length of the strop back and forth about 50 times.

See if that helps.

I wouldn't recommend sanding it. Once you lose the top grain finish it isn't coming back. So I'm assuming it had draw to begin with ? IME neatsfoot will add a bit of draw, and as you know, a little goes a long way. I guess I would do what Jhenry said and stick with palm rubbing for a week or so. If that doesn't get it, another treatment with neatsfoot.

Yes it did draw rather nicely. Lately it hasnt been. Comparing to my srd latigo or my srd roo strop. I cant get an hht off this thing and I get it easily with my other strops.

Originally Posted by bill3152

Yes it did draw rather nicely. Lately it hasnt been. Comparing to my srd latigo or my srd roo strop. I cant get an hht off this thing and I get it easily with my other strops.

But HowDoes It Shave Off Of It? That Is All That Matters.

Related to what ChevHead said, my strop has like no draw. Its almost as fast as my fabric side and yet the shaves off it are smooth. I used coconut oil and I don't know if anybody else has done that or if it is advisable, but it worked for my strop and it did add a little bit of draw. I will say that I have grown accustomed and quite fond of the lack of draw and most importantly it shaves just fine. Some times I can get a pass on the HHT sometimes a fail but the shave is always smooth.

Originally Posted by Chevhead

But HowDoes It Shave Off Of It? That Is All That Matters.

I stopped using it when I couldn't improve off the hone on the hht. It doesn't have the sound of the edge zipping or whatever you want to call it. I strop a little slack. And I'm not rolling the edge as the latigo gives me that extra hht but not the other one.

I have a 2.5" Star Shaving supplies strop and love it. I have whipped up some lather and put it on the strop, and have added neatsfoot oil, and love the draw I get from it. It's pretty nicked up (my first strop) but I've sanded cuts out and it's still my favorite. I did get a new 3" Latigo strop last year from a different vendor and I have to say I don't like the 3" width, and the draw is next to nothing (very slick) and I don't care for that either. I 've added neatsfoot oil, did the lather thing and no change with the draw, It just hangs out on the back of a door.
what color did you get? I noticed that most strops that have any other color than a natural veg tanned suface seem to look shiny which leads me to believe that they have some kind of other finish? I don't know anything about leather........JMO

I'm just guessing, but I imagine the grain of the leather can "load up" just like a hone can, and lose some of its friction. Maybe cleaning the strop gently with saddle soap, and then a very light treatment with a good leather oil?

On the other side, once I cleaned a strop and felt it "lost its draw" but noticed it still kept a very nice edge on the razor anyhow, so i decided I didn't care. After a while, that resistance and frictiony feel we call "draw" seemed to come back.

If it produces a smooth shaving edge on a correctly honed razor, i'd not worry about it.

Age old questions,what does draw really mean?? why do people get fixated on Draw?? is more draw better?? is less draw worse??
Draw, like love is just a feeling,nothing more, nothing less.