Quote Originally Posted by Joegags View Post
Thanks for this -
In my original post in this thread I tried to state that the answer to my question (why are x-strokes prefered) must lie somewhere in the realm of the angle of the force exerted by the strop on the edge.

I was having a hard time "seeing" the process properly in my mind's eye - this helps.

The "rolling" x-pattern (is it fair to say it is really more of a sweeping motion - that's what keeps coming to my mind) is used when stroping smiling blades for the same reason it is used to hone smiling blades, only the motion is reversed - is this correct?

In this case, you basically want to roll (or sweep, in my mind!) the blade so the tangent of each point on the line of the smiling edge moves, at some point during the stroke, in a manner that is perpendicular to the length of the strop. Quite a mouthfull, but is that right?

thanks again for your reply
You do not strop with rolling x, just x-stroke and that is it.
Now if you are honing then that is another story.