Thread: Draw on a strop notting to do with performance?

Hi

Seen here that the draw on the strop have nothing to do with the grinding it does. Aren't that again's newton's law? Something must make it harder to draw and then also grind more. Or have I had 1 beer to many now

My new strop atleast have 0 drag and I don't feel that it sharpens at all:-/

Well, the smooth leather strops aren't supposed to sharpen.
That is the thought of many of us anyways
What it does do is straighten out the edge after the steel has been bent and dented during shaving.

I have strops in about all leathers out there, some with a heavy draw, others slick as all that.
I find them all to work, and work well.
My personal preference is the slicker varieties, others prefer more draw.

If you want more draw, hand strop it vigorously and often, and it will give more draw.
Or use some neetsfoot oil, that will also give more draw.
Use only a tiny bit though, it really doesn't take much.

As Birnando said, stropping doesn't sharpen, exactly; we are burnishing the edge. Metal is removed because as the tiny little "teeth" - more like tabs really - that are bent by the act of shaving are straightened some of them break off. It is not removed by friction as one might think intuitively.

Consider also that when a cordovan shell strop eventually begins to lose its surface finish.. we apply hard carnauba wax to restore it and polish the bejabbers out of it. It's quite a slick surface yet many feel that we get our best edges from shell strops. Truth be told, I doubt that there is any measurable difference in the edge produced by light or heavy draw strops, it's really a matter of personal preference.


rs,
Tack

Aha ty, I was thinking it polishes the edge, that it's so thin that even minimum of grinding brings it back

Got to try the razor with better prep, it can't go dull after 1 shave? And do u get that oil in Norway?

Cordovan? And ty

Ah, cordovan. The word actually refers to a complex, time consuming tanning process developed many years ago in north Africa. The "shell" refers to two small oval patches of thin, flat muscle attached to the underside of the skin on rump of the horse. It's what allows the horse to twitch his skin back there to shoe away flies and what not. Cordovan tanned shell has a mirror finish and is very strong, thin and durable. The African, now Western, tanning process included dying the shell to a very dark reddish brown color (oxblood) which gives its name to those very expensive shoes. Shell strops were commonplace 80 or more years ago when there were nearly as many horses around as people, not so much now. There's only one manufacturer of cordovan shell left in the US and production is somewhat irregular. (There are only a few producers left in the rest of the world, to boot.)

As you might imagine, since the shell is scarce it is expensive, meaning that strops are the same. Oh, the Japanese use a slightly modified tanning process and usually dye the shell a light brown (and the material is about twice the thickness of the Western shell - older horses, I suppose). It is also scarce and expensive.

Anyhoo.. cordovan shell strops are cream-of-the-crop luxury items now and are highly prized by us dopes who value style over function. OK, OK - they are a joy to use and many will disagree with my statement that the edge produced is no different than that produced by any other quality strop but that's the personal aspect of the sport once again.


rs,
Tack

I have two horsehide shell strops, both at least 85 yrs old. One even has my last name stamped on it. Someone, maybe a distant relative ran a barber supply co in NYC back then and had his strops stamped with his company name. Both by chance from eBay and in remarkably very good condition. Even the linen strops were on good shape, just a little scrubbing with soap and water. Shells treated with neatsfoot oil and both are in alternate daily use. Alternate just for the heck of it. Extra note: I prefer bench stropping. Have no easy place for it. Cut some thin fiber board the width and almost as long and secured them with Velcro straps top and bottom. Results two hanging bench strops. Both with different draws and I have no preference. Just happy to have that addiction done and over with. If it were only that easy for soaps and creams, brushes, scuttles, mugs, bowls, razors and what have you.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

I have two horsehide shell strops, both at least 85 yrs old. One even has my last name stamped on it. Someone, maybe a distant relative ran a barber supply co in NYC back then and had his strops stamped with his company name. .. Results two hanging bench strops. Both with different draws and I have no preference. Just happy to have that addiction done and over with. If it were only that easy for soaps and creams, brushes, scuttles, mugs, bowls, razors and what have you.

Very cool! I too have a number of vintage shell strops and use them from time to time, rotating with modern Tony Miller and Kanayama versions. I love the feel of the things; they feel somehow alive compared to the stiff modern leathers. I guess I'll have to try kangaroo, it supposedly has a similar feel to it. See? There's that addiction again! Roger on the what have you.. all of it.


rs,
Tack

Actually, cordovan leather gets its name from Cordoba, a
Spanish city.

True, it originated in North Africa, but the leather produced there differs in two fundamental respects:

1, The Moors tanned goatskin, and
2, The Moors used alum as the tanning agent.

The process as practiced in Cordoba is associated with equine leather, not goats, and the fundamental tanning process is of the traditional veg-tan type. Alum tanning is not considered as real tanning - if the leather is soaked the alum leaches out, the leather reverts back to its pre-tanning stage and begins to decompose.

Almost any leather can be tanned using the cordovan process - that is all it is, a process. That is why we use the double name 'shell cordovan' to specify that is equine shell tanned using the cordovan process. The main use of this was to produce shell leather for shoe making, hence the old word 'cordwainer' meaning a shoe maker.

Shell, even from old horses, is usually thin - around 2mm thick. If you go to the cheaper and longer leather that surrounds the shells (some call it 'north of cordovan') then the leather is significantly thicker. Not that shell is 'leather' in the strict sense of the word, being a subcutaneous membrane.

Part of the process of tanning is fixing the shells to plates of glass and then hand finishing them to a very smooth, lustrous finish. This is the modern meaning of shell cordovan, anything finished with other than this finish may be equine, may have been tanned using the cordovan process, but it is not shell cordovan.

As previously stated, it is very slick and gives a very fine edge. Most leathers suitable for stropping purposes do. But not every leather will - too much draw equates to slow stropping due to the resistance and can be detrimental to the edge.

As far as 'abrasive' quality is concerned, we see actual grit equivalents quoted by some newcomers who would know better if they spent some time researching here. That is not the newcomers fault, though. I can source most of this to one particular strop maker who really should know better. Putting it in print is just asking for people to repeat it. And we all know the consequence of repeating nonsensical info enough times - sooner or later people will come to believe it.

Regards,
Neil

Draw is like love,nothing more than a feeling.When you shave, you will ding up the edge on a microscopic level.
Stropping on almost anything,re-aligns the edge,nothing more nothing less