First experiences with strop

I bought one of the ebay strops (star shaving big mama model) to learn on. I didn't like it so much to begin with - the surface seemed a bit too glazed and it felt stiff, like cardboard. I cut it (not deep) and to fix it, I buffed it out with 1000 grit sandpaper. I discovered I liked the feel of it much better after buffing with the 1000 grit and did the whole thing.
After a month or so of working finger oil into it, and having lightly abraded it, I find it works quite well and am pretty happy with it. I am no longer cutting or nicking, but I am pretty happy with this now. I was wondering what other peoples experiences were with strops like this (the star shaving ones), and if anyone else had done anything like this.