Effectiveness of leather strops (and polishing compounds)

[Jacob]

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Personally I think it is not a black and white thing. I think stropping does something for the edge AND the bevel and face surface. ....

I am sure you are right. Except it is a black and white thing i.e. the question is; does a chisel or plane cut better after stropping? A lot of users say yes. Isn't that good enough?
You could do a test rig with a chisel, some sort of standardised mallet stroke, and see how far a chisel penetrates. More meaningful than B Beach's staring through a microscope!