I chatted with Lynn a bit about strops last time I was at his place. Now, it had been a long day, and we'd split two bottles of wine with dinner, and then we tested out all his brushes and 4 different scuttles, and then we started honing a razor we'd buffed that day, and then we got around to playing with and talking about strops... so forgive me if my memory is a little fuzzy. I remember Lynn saying something about the way the leather is "treated." I have no idea if this is the tanning process, before the tanning, or after the tanning, but I know it is relevant.