Hey all,
I've been looking around the site and everyone has a very good idea of the purpose of certain types of strops but I was a little confused and wasn't sure where to start.

Soon I'm going to be getting a straight razor but when it comes to strops I had a few questions , like what purpose does a linen strop serve, whats with the different grades of leather (cowhide vs latigo vs boar?).

I think they're called linen strops? Are they the same as Canvas strops and what are they used for

Finally whats the story with paste, does it just make the strop more abrasive so it lightly hones the blade?

Thanks!

Also if anyone could make any strop suggestions for a first timer I'd appreciate it. I saw a 20 dollar strop on some site a while ago, forgot where I saw it but its got a leather string at one end as opposed to a handle