Alan I think this is going to be a great thread if you stick with it

The tells of draw you mention are Crazy to me(you said it first). I am looking forward to the next get -together in Oklahoma so i can get those guys to show me what Draw is. Most of the time I hear it being a certain quality of a given strop, leather, or conditioner.

Your strop is constant per those qualities listed above, but what you are talking about is a function of edge condition. I must say that is far above any technique I have ever read.

Or myself thought possible. Heck I still dont know exactly what draw is- i heard it described. I'm not sure where to start trying to pick up on the tells you're using.

Now I once ground some charcoal and rubbed that in, and have coated my strap with castile soap and burnished with a cotton rag and finger pressure- that certainly gave me a sense of draw in its usual definition of "draggy friction"

I have probed the effect of each of my hones by shaving sans strop from 1k up. Over my short time I have seen improvements; meaning I have been able to get sharper/smoother on a per stone basis from what I got the first time.

...probably enough of me talking.
cheers