i will be trying to make this weekends meet. i purchased the video world of straight razor shaving and watched the stropping part and also numerous youtube videos so many times and i think i kind of got stropping... well i only nicked the strop twice so far. and i purchased the razor from whippeddog.com and the package it came in said DO NOT STROP before first shave the razor is shave ready. i purchased two so after my face heals i think i am going to try the other razor and see if there is a difference. as for stropping how many passes am i really supposed to make? i made about 40-50 as it says in the videos,can i be dulling the edge? can it be possible i am pushing to hard? and also since i am new i am pretty slow stropping does speed matter? each pass only takes a second or two but its slow compared to the dvd and youtube videos.