so i have a typical newb question here. these things all look great and having recently sliced my strop almost in half i would love to make my own contraption but will any of these balsa ones replace a leather strop?

i saw one person posted that they like the balsa better then leather implying that they don't use the leather now. leather of the right texture is not an easy thing for me to find around here and a strop is even harder so if i can make something a little different to try out that would be great.