What order to use this strop in?

I picked up this Monark strop today. I'm not sure what order to the various surfaces in.

The leather piece has a smooth side (the finishing side I assume), the other side is diamond embossed and coated in red stropping paste. The linen piece is marked "Irish Linen" and appears to be coated on both sides with some sort of white colored substance on both sides. The white substance feels a bit waxy.

My inclination is to use either side of the linen first, then the red coated diamond patterned leather, then finish with the smooth leather.

Do do I have that right?

I'm sure you have that right however you probably don't need to use the red side unless you are experiencing tugging and need to touch up the blade.

Personally, I'd just use the stamped leather side for day-to-day stropping, followed by the stamped linen side for an occasional touch-up as needed.

Alum of Potash said:

Personally, I'd just use the stamped leather side for day-to-day stropping, followed by the stamped linen side for an occasional touch-up as needed.

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+1 I'd probably avoid the red side. It might have iron oxide on it, but the diamond pattern would scare me off. I normally think of patterns as going from most rough to smooth. So, I'm not quite sure where that would fit in. I generally try to avoid anything with paste already on it, unless the seller can tell me exactly what it is. You have to get all of the paste residue off the blade before changing surfaces, and I'm not sure if people always do that.

Are you sure the red side is pasted and not just a dye? I always thought the diamond pattern was to help keep the strop from cupping and the red dye was just for looks.

As for the linen, I have several pieces of that and I like it. I'm not sure what the waxy substance is, but it doesn't seem to be abrasive and gives up some nice edges.