Stropping

[reggyboy]

I have a balsa paddle strop and the dovo green paste approx 5-8 micr and the red paste approx3-5 micr.Would it be beneficial or harmful to strop with either of these after the coti ,and if beneficial which one and how many laps?Or should i wrap the strop in newspaper and use that(how many laps).
Questions Questions but at least the good folk on here like to help>

 

[Bart]

It's not strictly necessary to strop on pastes after a Coticule.
But if you're having trouble getting the razor keen enough by use of the Coticule only, the balsa strop with red Dovo paste can be tried for further keenification. You can shave straight off the red paste, but the edge will be smoother if you refinish on the Coticule with only water. Over time, you'll learn to acquire the same off only a Coticule, or you could try to perform the Unicot method, which is an easy way to quickly reach maximum keenness you can get of a Coticule. (it still requires a decent honing stroke, though).

In essence, including the balsa strop in a honing paradigm, qualifies as "progressive honing".

Best regards,
Bart.