I'm relatively new to straight razor shaving, I've been at it for about a week now, and I just now found this site. I've been scouring this place all day and decided it was about time for me to join.

Anyway, I took a look at Lynn's shaving video and noticed that he doesn't keep the strop pulled tight when he's stropping. Every source I've found online says to try to keep as flat a surface as possible by pulling tight on the strop, so now every piece of knowledge I've managed to aquire has been knocked off balance. Can anyone help clarify the "hanging strop" stropping process?

Also, I think I may have fallen for an ebay trap when buying my strop. It seems a little warped and has some minor flaws in the leather at the top end. The leather reminds me of a weightlifting belt, only the surface isn't all shiny, it's almost like a crude suede. It came with a free Pakistani "Two Golden Man" straight *ahem* "razor," if that tells you anything. My guess is I'm out 20 bucks and should start browsing through Tony's selection.