Wicked edge stropping..

Start with your coarsest and then work your way down to your finest grit.

For example I have .5 .3 and .025 Micron CBN Emulsion's and a Poly Diamond .025,so I start with the .5 then the .3 and then the .025 going from coarsest to finest and do not use any pressure other then a tiny bit or you can ruin your strop.
 
I'll confuse you some more: many parrot the phrase "no pressure, awwwwkkk, Polly says no pressure" but then Clay (inventor and owner of Wicked Edge) reports using so much pressure on the strop paddles that the entire base is rocking back and forth coming off the table. Other people using the WEPS as well use a lot of pressure; some folks have noted how, back in the day, the old time barbers would strop the razor prior to giving you a shave, and they always used plenty of pressure.

What I've found with the WEPS is that you have to try things for yourself. For example, with stropping, the quality and state of the edge that you have created prior to stropping greatly influences the results you will get with stropping. So the stropping technique that is perfect for me might be perfectly awful for you. There's only one way to find out.

You know that there is a WEPS forum, with a section devoted to stropping?
 
Remember this rule when stropping:

The more pressure you use, or the more flexible the strop medium, the more you need to lower your angle when you strop.

I use balsa strops and light-ish pressure, and use the same angle.

If you are going to use leather strops and/or heavy pressure, drop your angle by about 2 degrees. In other words if you are sharpening at 20 degrees, you want to go down to 18 degrees so that the strops just hit the apex and not round it off. That's what Clay does, too.

I have been using the diamond films more than the strops lately so the angle/pressure thing is a non-issue since these are mounted on glass platens. The only stropping I do nowadays is on our kitchen knives. I do an 800 grit finish on the diamond stones, then go to a 14 and 10 micron diamond emulsion on balsa. The edge on those knives when I'm finished is very toothy/sticky sharp and make the fruits and vegetables shake in fear!
 
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Glock Guy has the right idea about the different types of medium your using,the softer the leather is for example the less pressure you can use as it will allow the Leather to wrap around the edge and that's how it ruin's your strop.
 
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