Originally Posted by superfly
Plain leather strop is abrasive.
When you get off the 8000 stone (Norton in my case) the bevel and the spine have the mirror finish, where I can see my reflection in well. Stropping that razor many times (the case with my practice razor, being stroped maybe 10 minutes every day) makes this mirror finish dissapear. You can check this with handheld loupe x10+. And no, I don't use pasted strops and I don't have anything to contamine my leather strop with. It is the DOVO best russian, the wide one, from classicshaving, 6 months of use, pasted with DOVO yellow (fat). The leather actually wipes the mirror finish with the silicates that are in the leather, and are abrasive, but they are so fine they cannot wipe the 8000 grit stirations fully. You can check this by observing freshly honed razor, and (or) stropping only the upper half of the freshly honed razor.
Please note that this is my personal observation on this matter, based on my expirience only,
Nenad