Strop Paste...

Useful or not useful?

It can be useful if used in moderation. I've never used or needed it, myself.

That's a very ymmv question. I highly recommend them but others do not.

Really it matters on why you are asking the question.

Are you brand new?

Do you hone?

How is your stropping?

Are you looking at paste for touch ups, getting that little extra out of your blades, or from bevel set to shave ready?

I tried it , back when my finishing hone was a Norton 8k . It helped a little , but I would only get about 3 shaves before I needed to do it again . I stopped using pastes , because my edge lasted longer if I didn't use them . I found my 8k edge smoothed out after a couple of shaves , and didn't feel as harsh as when it was freshly honed . That's just my experience , there are many others that do use pastes , and are very happy with them .

Pastes are easy to use and that's the advantage. You can keep an edge keen for a very long time with pastes as long as you catch them before they need real honing. Eventually though you need to use the hone.

There is also much conversation about what pastes do to edges over the long term.

Personally I would rather use a hone but a little CrO can help a recalcitrant edge after a hone for ultimate smoothness with some razors.

i use CrO for finishing sometimes. using after high grit hones seems to last longer before going to hone again.