Thanks guys. I wouldn't say I'm afraid to try honing, but I'm worried about screwing up my edge as I learn. I'm trying to glean as much info as possible from watching Lynn's DVD and reading the honing forum here, I can get my razor shaving sharp but I still get some tugging and pulling particularly around my chin area where the beard is coarser.

I have a couple of quick questions on honing & stropping. If I want to refresh the edge with my 4K/8K stone, I guess I'd do something like this yes?

4K 8K
3 5
1 5
1 5

Using just the weight of the blade, keeping it flat on the hone and using an X pattern.

Then going to my hanging strop (Tonys' No1 Best Heirloom), do I need to use the canvas side AND the leather side, or just the leather side? Or do I pyramid again with both sides of the strop?

The canvas side has ridges which I can feel the razor bumping over as I draw it across - I suspect this may be dulling my edge - or is it?

How many strokes on each side of the strop should I do after leaving the hone?

How much pressure should I use on the canvas/leather sides, is it just the weight of the blade again?

Obviously on the hone I move the razor with the blade leading and the spine trailing. On the strop it's the other way round, with the spine leading and the edge trailing, and keeping the heel slightly ahead of the point. That's right isn't it?

Thanks.