Ok help an innocent soul out.

Im know some of you more qualified gents have a good handle on this, but why does one strop a razor? I shaved with a straight razor a handful of times years ago, I didnt know what I was doing, the razor probably wasnt shave ready and I really didnt have a great experience. Oh I could shave with it but the irritation was through the roof.
I digress, I always believed that a well honed razor has a very fine edge and that the act of shaving can put little imperfections along that edge, so stropping a razor before a shave evens out the edge maintaining the sharpness. I seem to remember something about stropping at the wrong time or the wrong way will actually snap or break that edge off. Any of this have and validity?

Stropping wrong can damage an edge. A properly sharpened blade has two bevels meeting at a perfect angle. This angle is very small so the edge is easily damaged.

Stropping can also remove minisule amounts of corrosion, and make a sharp blade sharper. It can also burnish or deform the metal into a better edge on a microscopic scale, as well as remove metal from the edge, the amount of metal removed is very very minute though. Stropping also tames the edge making it smoother than if you shave off a hone sharp blade.

Others can probably explain better.

Phil

Imagine the edge on a microscopic level. Your beard has bent that sharp edge, pushing it over to the left and right and making burrs. What the leather is doing is catching those burrs and dragging them out straight again. It is not like honing where metal is being removed. Things are just being aligned.