One day I stropped my blade after cleaning it under hot water (~135 degrees F) and it felt "buttery" on the strop. Over the last three months, I have experimented with stropping cold and after ~30 seconds under hot water. There is a decidedly different sound and feel with a warm blade, and the HHT is excellent from head to toe. My hypothesis is that heating the blade makes it a bit softer, more malleable, and responsive to the burnishing effect of stropping. A reduced number of strokes seems to be just as effective as many more strokes on a cold blade. Try it and let me know what you think.