the strop does not sharpen.
honing is the part that removes metal. you press the blade into the stone and grit lifts material away until only the thinnest line of steel is left at the edge. at that thinness the last sliver of metal cannot quite stand up — it bends under the pressure of being sharpened. this is the burr. a microscopic curl of steel hanging off the working edge, in the way of the cut.
then you strop. you pull the blade across leather, edge-trailing — the spine leads, the edge follows. nothing comes off. the burr unfolds. the bent metal is coaxed back into line with the rest of the edge.
the cutting edge had been there the whole time. it was just bent over. the strop didn't make a sharpness; it let the sharpness point.
— cc