If you’re doing multiple grits, start with the finest first then move up from there. For example, start with the 3.5 micron, then go to the 5 then 10. This way if you get some 3.5 micron paste on the 10 micron paddle, not so bad but the other way and you’ve ruined the entire thing.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this – are you saying strop in REVERSE order of grit? Maybe I missed a critical detail but what you’re saying that doesn’t quite make sense to me. Maybe you mean if you change strops without cleaning the edge between them in case the paste mixes between strops?
I clean the edge with either denatured alcohol or acetone after the 1000 grit diamond stones and then use the 10 micron strops. Then clean the same way before switching to the 5 micron. Then again before 3.5 micron. Working down in grit (coarsest-finest/10-3.5) makes sense to me – not stropping upward in grit. I must have missed something or misinterpreted your post. Forgive me if I’ve made a mistake here.
