Back in the early '80s a barber sold me a Swaty and a coticule. He demonstrated how to hone and he taught me how to strop. He told me to use the Swaty dry and the coticule with lather or water and only the weight of the blade.
He was adamant that only three or four strokes should be used on the Swaty and not many more on the coticule. No pressure, only the weight of the blade. As a result of following my barber friends instructions I was never able to get a blade sharp or keep a sharp blade shaving well. So shortly thereafter I gave up straight razor shaving and went back to the Gillette 'Good News" for another twenty years.
Finding SRP I began to try again. I was lucky to have a forum member who lived thirty miles away and was willing to show me his honing methods. I brought a Goldedge I had gotten off of ebay and after taping the spine he started doing circles and back and forth strokes on a 1K Norton with pressure. Once the bevel was set he lightened up and moved to a 4K.
I would say that from there he used enough pressure to keep the blade flat on the hone. Lightning up as he moved up to the 8K and finally the 15K Shapton pro. I made a few more visits to my friend's house and received more instruction as I practiced with more ebay acquisitons. I have followed this procedure with good results since.