Quote Originally Posted by edhewitt View Post
i read a thread a while ago that talked about exactly this, the theory is that stropping a razor and letting it rest improves the shave, there were a few different theories as to why, and people who argued both sides and also said it made no difference, what works for you I suppose.
For a long time I stropped before, but after reading a few old books on it, I noticed they always said to strop after. I often listen to the advice of ancient folk, except when they recommend things like painting fingernails with radium and such, but we won't worry about that one just now, and I found it was better for me.

Not sure about this whole resting the steel thing. Does steel even know it's being used?