I have a Whipped Dog travel strop and it goes OK.

I got my blade professionally honed by OZ and it was a great shaver when I got it back. Over the next few weeks though it was very hot and miss as to how smooth the shave was. I took more attention to my stropping and tried stropping with the strop flat on the table, which worked very well.

I just loop the end around the tap, and hold it with my thumb and index finger. It seems the best shave I get when I hold it nearly as tight as I can and keep a fair pressure on the blade as I stop. If I do 50 laps with just a light stroke it doesn't seem to shave as well. Is this the case normally? I thought for a while I should get a different strop, but some days it is super smooth so it's not just a downhill slide.

Guess I need to learn and practice more, like everything.

Any tips would be appreciated