Thread: Looking to understand stropping

Pressure -- You definitely need to apply pressure while stropping the blade to have a positive effect. Just do not apply a huge amount. Just a little more than is needed to keep the blade in contact with the strop and you will be fine.

Speed -- Don't worry about speed, that will come with time. Be sure to do even x-strokes (or, a race track pattern works also) to get the entire area of the edge. If you try to go quickly at first, you will only succeed in damaging your strop and/or the edge of your blade.

Palm heating -- This is mainly to keep the strop in good condition as rubbing the strop with the palm of your hand transfers skin oils to the leather (plus, this keeps the strop clean as well). Some also believe heating up the strop raises oils to the surface of the strop which keeps it in more effective condition for stropping.

I may have missed a few points, but those are the highlights as I see them. Hope this helps. Tradition is typically based on what works, and these are some of the reasons for why this all works. Hope that answers some of your curiosity.