Long ago "somebody somewhere" at BF advised me to hold a "much steeper" angle when stropping.
If for example you hold a 20-degree angle when sharpening, then you go "far beyond" that for stropping.
Considering that I'm not at all paying attention to stropping angle, I'd "advise" 40-degrees for the above example. I'm just wailing away......
Considering the amount of steel "removed" with 0.5 micron green stuff, I reckon ya can't hardly make a mistake. I recall "someone" saying the green stuff does more polishing than metal removing, and that polished edge becomes incredibly sharp without losing the desired angle.
If ya do make a mistake, and I for-sure don't know how you'd know you made a mistake, then you simply re-sharpen and try stropping again.
What I've experienced: the edge simply gets sharper and sharper the more I wail away. If for some reason I'm not happy, I take the knife back to the $5 plastic thingie and pull it through more, then re-strop.
As for the green stuff: I use this product and lots of it, scrubbing it into the leather:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?page=32984
I'm certain you can find it, or it's equivalent, there in the UK. Somebody has it, as in all things ya just need to know what to call it.
Please keep us updated on how things go !!
Cheers,
Carl
p.s. BE CAREFUL !! you'll easily go into analysis paralysis on the topic of sharpening !!! Besides killing your pocketbook.....
p.p.s. lotsa good info !!
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&cat=1&p=43072
ppps. this will drive you crazy !!!
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/...de=toolstore&nextpage=/extra/lappingfilm.html
pppps. and more !!
http://www.antiquetools.com/sharp/sharpstropping.html
ppppps. Enough Already !!??!!