Thread: Why is my brand new Livi Regrind putting scratches in my strop?

Recently purchased a Livi New Grind from SRD. I was pretty stoked when I received it - gorgeous, like a work of art.

I was looking forward to having my first shave with it, and I went about my normal pre-shave stropping ritual on my Kanayama 60000. 40 strokes on the linen, then I turned the strop over to the leather and started stropping. Business as usual. However, after about 10-15 strokes I noticed something was wrong. There seemed to be small marks appearing at the top and bottom of each stroke. I slowed down, but at the same time I was thinking "Nah, it can't be. Just my imagination." So I continued. 10 strokes later and I thought, "Holy $#@! Every stroke is putting tiny scratches in my strop!"

So here's the deal. The Livi has etchings in the spine. The scratches are only located at the top and bottom of the stropping surface. So it must be those little "X's", right? But they aren't very deep, and they don't feel rough at all to my fingers. I really don't use pressure at all when stropping, I'm at a loss as to why this has happened.

The question is - is this normal? There are many Livis like this out there in the straight shaving world, they can't all be scratching up their owners' strops. Has anyone experienced something similar? Is it just that the Kanayama is a very "sensitive" strop? Is there anything I could do to stop this? I haven't had this razor for too long but I would hate to have to return it, it really is a beauty.

Here are some high-res photos of the damage. Keep in mind that the strop is only a few weeks old, and I haven't experienced anything like this with my other razors. I know that it in no way renders the strop useless, but still. If this happens every single time I strop, what will my poor strop look like in a year?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40321/IMG_5204.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40321/IMG_5187.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40321/IMG_5188.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40321/IMG_5193.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40321/IMG_5194.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40321/IMG_5195.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40321/IMG_5196.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40321/IMG_5197.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40321/IMG_5198.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40321/IMG_5199.JPG