hi all this is my first post and ive been trying to read all of your posts with regards to stropping but find conflicting info everywhere. i have a strop which is rough leather on one side and smooth leather on the other and i need to sharpen my razor. i have had it for a while and thought that the strop paste that i bought was to aid sharpening but it was a conditioning agent and thus had no grit. as a newbi i have recently realised that if i had a grit paste then this would of helped me to sharpen it. so i have bought some but have now read another post which tells me not to use a gritted paste on a strop.
so the big queston is what do i do. can io sharpen a razor using my hanging strop? if so do i apply grit to rough or smoth side? i really should of bought a book really but hey im just falling into the trap that so many others obviously do when they want to do proper manly shaving (yes i bought a cheep razor from ebay which again ive found is a peice of toss like so many others, but have bought a singing razor now!)
sorry its so long but many questions to be asked.