Lot of info around here for searching and reading. I'm still new to sharpening and stropping but really liked felt loaded with diamond spray I used at Dave's. I use 1 micron spray based on what I've read here. hard to get high quality felt, though. I'm waiting on some from Marko which I'm sure will be great. I've tried leather and balsa, too... what the felt does well is pull off that last wire edge. A hard felt block to slice through in between grits, too.