Dang, I can’t quote the source, but they were interviewing some authority on the subject of engine braking on the radio a few years ago. Guy pointed out that up to perhaps as late as the ‘70’s, brake technology wasn’t the greatest and using the engine to brake was common practice. But these days it just doesn’t make sense to rev up an expensive drive train to do what much cheaper and mechanically simpler brakes are there to do.
We are going off on a tangent here because of Latzke's post. No one had suggested that you constantly use the engine and rev it out to 8K in order to slow down. I hope everyone is clear on that.
What I am saying is that the "proper" way to slow is to always be in the right gear for your speed. It all depends on how fast you are slowing, obviously a panic stop and a slam on the brakes requires both feet in.
So if you are going to slow properly, you need to be in the right gears. That requires downshifts, and you blip the throttle, rev match, let off the clutch, and continue to slow... Because you are decelerating, the engine is naturally braking. You may be using a lot of the brake still, or be on them mildly, or see no need to be on them at all when it is a slow decent and the engine is doing enough on it's own. As you slow down more, in order to keep the motor from bogging, you blip and go down one more.... and one more until you are at a stop. That is a proper way to slow if time allows. Any modern automated clutch transmission does the same. Any Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, some Porsches, they all "blip" and row down the gears as you slow.
You can also just press in the clutch and use the brakes to stop fast if you need to. Either is fine.
The bad habit, is being in 4th, then as you slow down you press in the clutch once, hold it in, then go 3, 2, 1... Depending on how fast you are doing this, you are making the synchros work. Try going 60, pressing in the clutch and going to 1. It won't let you... the synchro is still trying to work. The point is, just because the engine is disconnected from the transmission, it doesn't mean there is nothing going on in the transmission. Just because you have pushed in the clutch, it doesn't mean that skipping gears without letting off the clutch is a good idea.
The better habit is, if you happen to be in 4 at high speed, and coming to a slow, push in the clutch, go to neutral, let off the clutch then push it back in, then you can go 3,2,1 without letting go the clutch again. You've "double declutched" and slowed the shaft speed.
To summarize all of this:
1) Try to always rev match
2) If you can, try to learn how to heel and toe
3) Don't skip shift. Don't rev the motor out in first or second then suddenly go to "Cruise mode' by skipping 2 gears. Just avoid doing this.
4) Practice double clutching. This makes the synchros work much less. Going from 1-2, you press in the clutch, go to neutral, let off the clutch then press it back in, then go to 2, and let off. Going down, you press the clutch in say 4, let off it in neutral then press it back in, go to 3, let off the clutch. If you are good, you are also blipping the throttle to rev match, that saves the clutch.
These techniques are great to know well, make you a better driver, make the car shift smoother, save the synchros and the clutch, cool the motor, and best of all, are fun. Just like a stick is more involving than an auto, driving a stick poroperly is a lot more fun than just shifting up and down like every other non-technical driver.