People can get carried away with this pressure thing. You just hold the strop comfortably tight so there is slight deflection and watch your pressure.

You need to be careful with wanting to use the entire strop length. I used to obsess with that also and found myself hitting the hardware at the end or the embossing at the ends.

Stropping is one of those things that seems deceptively simple yet is something requiring a definite skill set. Pressure, angle,wrist motion,turning the razor, conditioning the strop,holding the strop, strokes on the strop all have to come together the right way. You just take it slow and easy and it eventually all comes together.