Quote Originally Posted by LarryAndro View Post
Strop technique conversations are primarily read by newbies. For them, I think the "hold tight and strop light" advice is good advice. For undoubtedly, if the strop is bowed and you strop with pressure, I think most will agree it quite possible to dull the blade. So, why not give general advice that is most likely to keep newbies out of trouble?

As an aside, the closer the blade is to a wedge, the more slack I allow in my strop.
+1 on the above.
i.e. the "hold tight and strop light" advice is good advice.

Not too long ago a translation of "Honing Razors and Nihonkamisori"
was posted. In it the original author made a point on stropping.
The point was that a strop could bend on the spine but
not on the edge (see Fig 1 and Fig 2 where he exaggerates this).
I would bet that this old barber let the razor edge touch the strop lightly
flowing behind the spine. It is almost possible to see this in
action on the video. When I get a great edge
from the strop that is what goes on for me.

By keeping the strop tight and the razor light on the
strop it is easy to minimize the pressure on the edge
and maximize the feeling of dragging or pulling the edge
across the strop in contrast to pressing the edge into
the leather.

As the razor is held between the thumb and forefinger the
thumb need only push the spine down the strop and
the edge will drag lightly on the surface as it should.

The translation is a good read...