Thread: Straight Strop Twisted Mind

Draw on a strop is essentially resistance from the leather surface to the blade being stropped across it. Like love, draw can be an extremely powerful force. One could argue that draw is the strop having its effect on the blade, on the edge, as it is moved across the strop. If that is true, it follows that a strop with more draw may do its work on a blade's edge more quickly, with fewer laps, than a strop with light draw. This does not necessarily mean that a heavy draw is better or worse than a light draw, but their effects are certainly likely to be different. As for love having zero effect, that is demonstrably false. I'm married because of love, and SRD is out of custom straight razors because of the love for them.

Like Love,Draw is a mental state of mind

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

...as long as the blade edge contacts the leather in a proper manner...

I love that bit, reminds me of an old time policeman giving evidence in a law court: "the razor was proceeding along the strop in a northerly/southerly direction in a proper manner, when ooops the accused became agitated and fell down the stairs of his own accord, severing his carotid artery in the process, m'lud..."

Regards,
Neil

I have two old Russian shell strops that I use interchangeably. Both are light draw. I have a pressure problem (too much pressure applied) and when I strop, wither the linen or the leather side, as I am counting I am repeating an old mantra in my mind, "I am one with the wind. I blow gently over the surface." I have sharp edges, thank you.

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

I love that bit, reminds me of an old time policeman giving evidence in a law court: "the razor was proceeding along the strop in a northerly/southerly direction in a proper manner, when ooops the accused became agitated and fell down the stairs of his own accord, severing his carotid artery in the process, m'lud..."

Regards,
Neil

So whats your point Neil??

The language, that's all. I guess you have to be brit to appeciate the style of phrasing that pc plod would have used. Must be an american equivalent, I would have thought.

Just a bit of fun, nothing more. Unlike the question of draw, which gets an unwarranted amount of attention, or love, which doesn't.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

The language, that's all. I guess you have to be brit to appeciate the style of phrasing that pc plod would have used. Must be an american equivalent, I would have thought.

Just a bit of fun, nothing more. Unlike the question of draw, which gets an unwarranted amount of attention, or love, which doesn't.

Regards,
Neil

You are one of the finest strop makers, bar none.I mean that it in all honesty,what are your thoughts about Draw? has any science ever proven that Draw has any effect on a razors edge?

I know the question was for Neil, but I must add that I am a draw fiend. I have the heaviest draw bridle Neil offers. I don't use it on some thinner razors as they become mired in it! I have lesser draw bridle, tallow tanned, and milled leather as well as Latigo. I like to strop on the heaviest draw a blade likes and proceed to lighter ones. If I had to have one strop, it would be Neil's red lightly oiled bridle. A universal leather for any razor, very effective. IMO.

Well, thank you very much.

The only finding of any value that I ever saw is that too much draw is possibly deleterious to the edge. That was an extreme case though, when the draw (exacerbated by over oiling) was so great that some force had to be used to overcome it. The force inevitably meant. Deforming of the leather to such a degree that when it 'popped' back up after the bevel passed it exerted a lateral action, blunting the razor.

Some put forward the same argument for stropping too slowly, but I have no definite evidence that this is so.

Heavy draw brings out an edge quickly, but HHT tests are usually disappointing. I believe this is because heavy draw is symptomatic of an oily-natured strop, and this oil clings to the bevel and defeats the HHT test. If the bevel is cleaned by stropping on your palm or a few laps on dry leather then the HHT result is much better.

This is not the only thing that affects peoples perceptions, though. A great deal of strops are made from leather that is split and then regularised. This means that the original leather is thick enough to be spli one or more times, and only the top split will have a grain pattern. To make it all look the same the surfaces, including the top skin surface, are mechanically milled flat and a grain pattern is imprinted. Milled (or napped) leather is always slightly dusty, but if it is an oiled leather (eg brdle) then the oil and fine dust really coat the bevel, giving a poor HHT but good shave results. Even dry (eg veg-tan cowhide) that has been milled is dusty, but it doesn't throw off HHT anywhere near as much. Agin, palm stropping removes the masking effect.

So in all these cases we have no evidence that moderate draw is any better - or worse - than a lighter draw.

The only leathers that seem to defy this are those that are not milled, eg kangaroo and shell cordovan. The feel of the leather is very different to milled leathers, and I would not be surprised that irregularities in the fair faced skin side adds something. Certainly, leather impressed with checker patterns or dots has traditionally been used as a sharpening side for a very long time. With fine leathers like shell and kangaroo the difference is very subtle, but it does seem to be there.

I have a bar at home fitted with latigo, bridle, napped cowhide, kangaroo and cordovan. The majority of razors seem to be finished equally well on all of these, but some types of steel alloy seem to benefit from a particular leather. Nothing empirical about it, mind you, but I can detect a subtle difference.

Regards,
Neil

PS thanks again, Pixelfixed, you have made my day - and I was already happy, so thats quite something, my friend.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I know the question was for Neil, but I must add that I am a draw fiend. I have the heaviest draw bridle Neil offers. I don't use it on some thinner razors as they become mired in it! I have lesser draw bridle, tallow tanned, and milled leather as well as Latigo. I like to strop on the heaviest draw a blade likes and proceed to lighter ones. If I had to have one strop, it would be Neil's red lightly oiled bridle. A universal leather for any razor, very effective. IMO.

Tom, your a strop junky,,,,