I may have found a cheap replacement for the linen side of my strop. Actually I think it works much better than the linen side of my strop. Today I placed an ordinary towel over my flattened hand and stropped on that using some pressure. I stropped mostly on my fingers. I did 30 laps (its only 3 inches long afterall).
The edge became very shiny, as it is after I hone it, and the razor seemed to get sharper. I was very surprised at how sharp it seemed to get. I tried several other razors and they all seemed to get sharper, so much sharper that I had to really consider whether I needed to strop on leather or not.
When I did strop on leather; I had to strop very, very lightly.
Try it if you'd like . . . and yes, I might just be crazy, not sure yet.