I'm new to stropping and I've got a question thats bugging me. Being a DIY guy I wanted to try and make a strop with some leather from Tandy for my first one in case it gets hacked to pieces. The surface is quite smooth but a little uneven so I decided to use it for knives and such. To replace that I just got a Filly from RupRazor. The texture of the Filly is much different, much more like suede but seems likes its been texture or something like that.

Are strops cleaned up with some sort of abrasive or scraper to get a flat and even surface?