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I had a SRP latigo, and after slicing it up to hell decided to get their Premium Leather I. I didn't quite understand what "draw" meant until I tried this other strop, it seems to have none at all. My question is, does this change the stropping at all? Do I have to strop more or less to compensate?
BTW--It's a beautiful strop!
Different strokes for different folks. The Tony Miller Latigo had so much draw I was afraid it would pull the razor out of my hand. I stropped on that very carefully and with great trepidation. OTOH, his horsehide had zero draw and I liked that.
I bought the SRD premium one and I found the draw a perfect compromise between the two. It had some but for me was just right. Some guys like a lot and others a little. I don't know that one is better than the other in the final outcome. You can increase the draw by rubbing the palm of your hand on the strop before you go to it with the razor. For more draw than that you can also apply neatsfoot oil but carefully. A very little goes a very long way and it does darken the strop.
My daily strop gets smooth after some use and looses it's draw. I take a buffed piece of leather and rub it to the leather strop and it brings back the draw. Since I am used to the draw it makes me feel better. Other freinds of mine don't care about the draw so they strop on a smooth strop. It seems to me that the edge feels better after stropped with a velvet draw to it. Juan.
Is Draw purely a personal preference, or does having more or less draw affect the edge of the razor?
I've seen some say that a razor honed to a very fine edge will be better served by a strop with less draw while a razor honed to say an 8k level would be better served by more draw. I don't know if this is correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by goaT
When I first came around I recall a thread where some guys felt that if a strop had little or no draw it wasn't doing much if anything. OTOH, most barbers professional strops of olden days were made from horsehide which is known for having less draw than bovine.
I would suggest you work with your premium one as it is and give it a week or two and see what you think. Just IMHO.
In playing around with my autostrop razor, I've noticed that there is a directly proportional effect between the amount of draw and the downward force the razor has on the strop. Obviously, this is an effect caused by the design of the mechanism in this particular razor, but it got me wondering if the same relationship applies to regular stropping. Would one be better suited to use a bit more pressure (still a very light pressure, just more of it) on a strop with more draw?
"Is Draw Important" I would answer your question with a big yes. And I would add that while the nature of the draw varies given the leather the strop is made from and liking or not liking any particular draw is absolutely personal and subjective, any draw is important for what a strop actually does for the blade.
I guess the point I'm trying to understand is, if draw is important, then do you have to alter the number of strokes depending on the draw? For example, a strop with lots of draw might require 20 strokes, but a strop with little to no draw at all might require 50 to obtain the same effect. I just wasn't sure if there was research done into this.
I usually do a lot of stropping, but I enjoy it and find it very relaxing. In fact I usually strop a razor when I get home, just to relax after a long day of work.
Here is an archived thread that is a very good read for some interesting points of view on stropping and what it does or doesn't do.
Great read! Thanks jimmy
That is a good question, and one that I often wonder about. I have many strops, including the one's Jimmy mentioned, Tony Miller's Latigo, Lot's and Lot's of draw, almost feels like the blade sticks to it, and His Horsehide, which is absolutely beautiful, and has no draw, almost has a slick feel to it...
I sometimes use a strop with heavy draw in conjuction with a strop with no draw, kinda like a one two punch, or the best of both worlds..Lately, I've been picking one strop and doing 30 linen/canvas and 60 leather with great results......As I said, I have many, many strops, some with lot's of draw, some with none, and some inbetween. I haven't noticed any difference in my shaves...
As Jimmy mentioned, The Barber's of old often used strops with no draw, like the Cordovan leather...some had what you call a Scotch Shell, which was some type of coating over the leather, like a clear varnish or something...Talk about no draw, Absolutely none, The blade literally flys across it...
One thing I won't do, is alter any strop by applying various compounds to it.
I rub them with the palm of my hand, that's it...I'm not talking about restoring vintage strops, or cleaning strops, and I'm not talking about pastes, That's fine..I prefer paddles to do that..
I'm talking about oiling or soaping up a perfectly good strop to increase draw....I don't think that increasing draw in such a manner is that important or will make a huge difference. I've seen beautiful pieces of leather, nice strops destroyed...I saw a really nice English Bridle strop that was sanded...? Why would you do that?...If your truly not happy with your strop, Don't alter it, Sell it, and buy another....My two cents...
Based on my own experience draw has nothing to do with the performance result at all. I have several strops and some have draw to varying degrees and some have none. Though they all feel different in the end they all do the same exact job, no better or worse. The only caveat is if you have a strop that exhibits draw and a particular razor has none on it you can use that as an indicator the razor is not shave ready. I've found if the razor has draw it may be shave ready but if it doesn't it's not.
That's a handy indicator though imprecise it is.