Balsa strop instead of leather?

Has anyone or does anyone shave right off of a balsa strop(pasted or not) and not use a traditional leather strop?

I would imagine the wood is harder than cloth which is more abrasive than leather so I would think for unpasted you would be better of with leather. For pasted though it would probably be fine. I know guys do use it that way.

I use my balsa strop with paste and then strop as usual. It's just the way I was told. Never tried another way.