Thread: Straight Strop Twisted Mind

So what do's Draw mean? I think it means nothing,fast draw, slow Draw,heavy Draw, no draw.As long as the blade edge contacts the leather in a proper manner,It will do it's job just fine.
Draw, Like Love, is just a feeling has zero effect.

You know, there is a bit of insane logic to this so I'll give it a try. Since I can't afford a new strop right now, I'll try no draw on no strop.....

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

So what do's Draw mean? I think it means nothing,fast draw, slow Draw,heavy Draw, no draw.As long as the blade edge contacts the leather in a proper manner,It will do it's job just fine.
Draw, Like Love, is just a feeling has zero effect.

I purchased two strops when I first started out,
an Illinois #127 and a #827, the #127 was slick, the Russian Leather on the #827 offered a considerably more resistance or draw.
I started using the #127 as I thought I was having to press down to much to keep good contact on the #827
on the #127 I was not getting great results, although not damaging the edge it was not improving either.
After around a month I switched to the #827 this forced me to use a bit more pressure to keep contact and keep a fluid motion.
My edges improved literally overnight, I am still partial to a medium to heavy draw, in my minds eye it feels like I am doing something
even though I can now get a great edge off of either of them.
Bill is right it is a personal thing as they all do the job.
However I found the heavier draw to be a great training aid on what proper pressure is allowing me to improve the edge.

You're lucky this ain't Dodge City in the 1860's, man with slow draw gets buried with his boots on,,,

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