...I bought an Illinois Razor Strop hanging strop and a TI Paddle Strop to use with my new TI Blond Horn Silver Steel straight razor. I also purchased a 4000/8000 Norton hone, but I'll assume I don't need that quite yet (only if more than stropping is needed). Now my ("dumb") question: With the hanging stop and on the leather half, do I strop on the "shiny" or polished side or the rougher unfinished side? My uneducated guess is to use the "shiny", polished side of the strop. Whichever side I use, should I treat it with strop dressing or anything else before the first stropping of my new razor? Thank you in advance. By the way, the people on this forum are awesome.

Tom