I got some Cro-ox from Chris L and its awesome btw, just wondering if I made a mistake. I put it on the back side of my strop as instructed but its not completely smooth. After about 15 laps I noticed some small scratches on the blade near the edge and I'm thinking its due to the leather not being perfectly smooth. Any help would be much obliged.

Should I smooth it out with some sandpaper or just use the linen side instead or am I just trippin and eveything is cool and this is normal?