I'm not a regular here, but happened to see your post from the main Manufacturer's listing; and I thought I could offer a little advice to help.
When you strop a knife, you are polishing the edge. A highly polished edge won't feel sharp because it has no micro-serrations to "grip" with. You get the opposite effect when using ceramic rods because you are creating micro-serrations.
A highly polished blade will push-cut well, and will shave. A blade with micro-serrations will slice better because there are teeth to chew through the material.
Personally, I use a strop sparingly on an already-sharp knife. I sharpen most of my blades to near-razor, and then do a few light strops. Any more and the blade becomes "too sharp". I'll strop my knife after some light-medium use and save the ceramic rods for when stropping won't bring back a satisfactory edge.
One last thing - for a chisel or v shaped edge, you will want to use a padded strop and not a hanging strop. A hanging strop can roll the edge of a chisel or v-shaped edge. I don't have a real strop; I actually roll a glossy paper (like the glossy paper in a magazine or newspaper flyers) around a belt and lay it on a hard surface like a table. 2-3 swipes per side and you are talking crazy sharp. Someday I will bone down and get a REAL strop though...
Oh, and remember to roll the edge up into the air at the end of your stroke to ensure that you don't roll the edge over.
Check out the Toolshed forum in the General Discussion area for more sharpening information and tricks!
