Thread: Straight Strop Twisted Mind

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.