Hey everyone,

I began stropping with an Illinois 361 strop, I couldn't bring myself to purchase one of Tony's beauties just to nick the hell out of it. While its done the job, I've noticed a few things and was wondering if this is indicative of all strops, or just mine?

First, there appears to be a scar in the middle of the leather, kind of like a wrinkle I just can't et out. I've mink oiled the strop and rubbed a glass bottle filled with warm across it (several times), but the scar is still noticeable. Now I'm not talking just visually noticeable, I can feel it slightly when I run my hand over it. The question is, does it affect my razor's edge to a significant degree? Is it such a problem that I should replace my strop?

Second, I've noticed there is a lot of built up dirt and grime on my strop. When I run my hand across the leather, I can feel the gunk pull at my hand and I can only imagine what it does to my edge. The dirt is not uniform, mostly on the two edges of the strop and of course around that fine scar. Now, I know the mink oil probably contributed to this as well as the oil I use on my carbon-steel razors, but is this normal? I try to remove as much oil from my carbon-steels as possible before touching the linen and leather, so is this just a fact of life?

Thanks in advance for all your advice.