The blade I did today I did not strop between progressions but will try that next time, as far as the shave today after doing the 50/25 on linen/leather the shave was very smooth but can't say any smoother that 25/25 that i had tested but maybe a little better that just leather alone, i have figured out that one can do all the HHT testing in the world but in the end all the matter is how smooth and close the shave is and how long the edge can be maintained with proper care so maybe i need to revisit using linen each time on the pre and post shave, all my strops have natural flax linen so i can't compare the edge to anything else, i do have my Kanayama cotton but just don't care for it.