I've stropped knives before but needed a refresher, especially using a straight. I just watched Lynn Abrams great YouTube video on Stropping for Beginners. The three points that immediately came back to me were: Keep it light and you'll be right. Turn on the spine and you'll be fine. And, Don't strop fast, the strop won't last. Musicians will get the speed thing. If you start stropping at 60BPM (beats per minute - that's one stroke per second), and work up to no more than 80BPM, you'll be a pro before you know!