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Draw

G

garyhaywood

Well-Known Member
i have several strops from cowhide to horse hide and litigo.

the english bridle or latigo strop have light to very heavy draw .The horse hide , cowhide have a very nice slick light draw that i have to say i prefer.

What is the advantage of a strop that gives so much more draw? Compared to a cowhide or kanayama with a very light draw? I 'm not sure on the differance or reason behind heavy draw, all i no is it can make stropping a little less comfortable. I feel as if i have to use more pressure with heavy draw and have to hold on to the razor as the razor can get draged back alitte. I have to hold on to the scales to keep the razor straight if you understand what i'm trying to explain. I have found that rubbing the latigo with my fore arm lightens the draw which is great that i can do this to reduce the draw considerbly.

gary
 
I agree Gary.More draw is not an advantage.More draw forcing the operator to apply more pressure that isn't always necessary. I prefer the glider strops.Especially for the ground razors with the flexible edge. I don't like to feel a razor which stuck on the strop. I hope well understood your post.
Best regards
Emmanuel
 
You know me Gary.

Gary and I have talked about this, and I am still totally undecided, I keep telling myself that I will get used to the heavy draw Latigo of my TM strop, but tbh I dont like it, I much prefer the lighter draw on the soft velvety Dovo and RR strops.

Don't get me wrong, the shaves off the heavy draw are very nice, but I find it bloody hard work stropping on it lol

Regards
Ralfson (deep undercover in deepest darkest Manchester!)
 
I've often wondered if the amount of draw in a strop in any way equated to better performance on the blade. If somehow, that added draw was doing anything more for edge refinement than a strop with a slick draw.
The draw of TM Latigo is way too much more me. The new Neil Miller English Bridle is between cowhide and heavy latigo. A little bit more draw than I'm used to, but the edge refinement is so incredible on the Neil Miller strop that I've come to enjoy it. It's also nowhere near being broken in, and I think that will smooth things out considerably. I keep rubbing oil and burgundy dye out of it every time I work it with my palm. This leather was lightly oiled, but there is still more that works it's way to the surface every day.
The edge that comes off Neil's Bridle Leather makes it all worth it!
 
Some will say that the strop material is completely irrelevant (they're all equally effective). I couldn't disagree more with that. I find really slick strops to be fun to use, but they don't offer me the same edge refinement of my English Bridle strop. The Latigo is a pain to use, and I didn't find it to be as effective to use either.

Not too long ago, I stopped honing so much and just focused on edge maintenance on my strops, and for me the English Bridle has been tops. I'd classify it as a "medium" amount of draw. It's nowhere near as heavy as latigo, but not slick as snot either. Some experimentation with TPT after stropping on different leathers demonstrated there's a difference (at least I perceived there is a significant difference anyway)
 
I tend to agree with Paul, albeit with one caveat: I have not done any extensive testing. That said, I am currently getting consistently excellent results from Torolf's leather (review to follow RSN, promise) and the bridle leathers of the Old Traditional and SRP Premium IV (in that order) strops.
 
I loved the heavy draw from the latigo when I was learning to strop properly. The strong feedback really helped with my technique. Now I prefer less draw, and I THINK my dovo strop gives me better edges.
 
My first strop was a black latigo that started with lots of draw but I started working it with my palm every chance I got and now it's got a nice draw. Not too slick but just the right amount of bite in my opinion.

The only other leather I have any expeience with is a English bridle that I got as a free giveaway on another forum. The leather came in pretty dry but I've been kneading it with my palm any chance I get also. Today was the first time I tried to strop on it but it is a very grabby leather. It felt like it was trying to take the razor out of my hand. Not at all a pleasant experience.

Even tho it was very grabby it did feel like it made the edge just a bit better.
 
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