I can't see that commercial strops are any better than a simple piece of latigo cowhide.
I like to glue a thick piece of latigo to the back of a hone; that works better for me than stretching it out. With it glued to your hone you can really bear down on it. The "farmer's repair bundles" of latigo leather scraps that sell for around $5 a bundle are great, and so is an old belt -- a belt made of a single piece of thick leather. Or whatever you have around.... It makes little difference which side of the leather you use.
Don't be afraid to learn to sharpen! Especially don't be afraid to strop; there's no way you could fork anything up with a strop. You could scratch up a blade learning to use a hone, and the coarser the sharpening stone the worse the scratches will be. Just take some knife that's already scratched or one you wouldn't mind scratching to start with -- any old junky kitchen knife or throwing knife will do, or a good knife you love but it's a using knife and you don't mind scratches -- and plunge right in fearlessly. Just don't do your learning on a mirror-polished beauty that you keep on display in a glass case and would never use....
Seriously, the worst you can do is scratch the blade -- you will scratch the blade at least a few times before you learn not to -- but you're not going to do any worse to a knife than scratch it. After the first few minutes of trying to sharpen it the knife might seem duller than it was to start with, but just keep going; you'll figure it out soon enough.
We argue a lot about what's the best way to sharpen a knife because there are a number of different methods that work. If it were all that difficult, if there were only one right way to do it, we wouldn't have anything to argue about.
Anybody who hasn't read Joe's Sharpening FAQ, go to the Knowledge Base at this website and read it, and read the other FAQs too. With the FAQ and the information in this thread you're all set and there's NO EXCUSE not to start right now and learn to sharpen your own knives!!! Don't tell me you don't own a knife you're not afraid of scratching up -- look in the back of the drawers in the kitchen. Go to the Goodwill and buy a paring knife for fifty cents. Just do it!
In no time at all you'll be volunteering to sharpen all your friends' and relations' knives for them. It's fun! It's a relaxing thing to do with your hands while you're hanging around the house reading or sitting in front of the goddamnnoisybox (if you allow one of those things to squawk in your house; I don't). You can impress your friends, too. Your friends all have cheap pocket knives and kitchen knives that are horrendously dull, wouldn't cut warm butter, but they're made of soft steel and you can put a razor edge on one in a few minutes with a pocket hone and watch their eyes bug out when they see you shave your arm with it! :O You can be the life of the party! Just do it!
-Cougar Allen :{)