yeah thats from stropping only. i have a spyderco hone which ive heard from reliable sources it will work for honing. im going to try to clean the leather and when im done rub some olive oil into it and see how my other knives respond to it. otherwise ill just get me a dove strop from germany, its probably my cheapest alternative, just started a new job so im as close to broke as possible now for atleast another month. i tried to strop one of my kj eriksson moras (1095 @ 59-60hrc) and its seems to remove some material there too. however i only stropped the spine