No break in period to speak of on the honey brown but it will get better with age/use. Linen on a TM is very textured and if you applied too much weight to the razor while stropping it on the linen you can dull the razor. I would advise that you rub the surface smoother with a pumice stone.

I fall into the bracket of "nothing is perfect", which means I dress all my strops even when new to get them to the way I prefer. Tony will advise you on his preferred approach to use of his strops.

PuFF