My new hone . . .

Okay, so I wanted a wicked good edge on my razor. Did I whip out a hone and work on a perfect stroke developed from years of honing practice? Nahhh, screw that, I cheated. Reviewing La Pogonotomia III, The Strop, I found this little gem:

“Good leather is calf, buffalo, or beaver. After gluing it on the wood, it is dressed with pumace (dry). Any substance put on the leather should be absolutely free of grains which might damage the edge. Many substances are used in powder form: stone, pencil, red chalk, hone, pumace, terracotta, pottery”.


Sure enough, I took a piece of paper, folded it over twice, rubbed a pencil all over the paper is several “coats”, then rubbed the pencil graphite infused paper all over my strop and stropped my razor up to a hyper-wicked edge. Worked like nobody’s business. Sharpest edge I’ve seen in years. Easy peasy! Wiped it all off after I completed about 40 laps . . . now we’ll see how well my strop lasts! J

If I’d known how easy this technique was I would of posted about it years ago. Darn the luck! A 100K grit hone for 12 cents? :gaah:

Hmm...that is indeed very interesting!! I have read (don't know where know to be honest) that the graphite in pencil lead does have an a very fine abrasive quality. I'd be interested in trying that method on my linen strop, as I wonder how it would compare to the dovo white paste, which is chalk-based I believe. Be interesting if it would suitable for everyday use on the linen also....

I want to experiment now......

I tested this with one of those big solid graphite art pencil awhile back but didn't like it, which surprised me since I do like the Dovo black paste which is supposedly graphite. I don't know if the art pencil was pure graphite or not though, maybe there was something else in there as a binder...

I used a standard #2 Pencil. I tried on linen and it seemed to have no effect.

For full disclosure I should mention that this is a description of the correct way to treat an ordinary strop, not some special way to create a new hone.

In case anyone is interested here is the link to the page:

archives, la pogonotomia III

Sounds great!
Graphite is a mix that includes clay.
Depending on the hardness of the pencil its more or less.
Should be interesting to find out which ones work best.
(And what type of clay it is, hehehe)

That is really interesting, Thanks for the post. When I tried graphite I used powdered graphite on denim. It made a good edge but was very slow. I will try your method.



Charlie

Seems like this would work well with newspaper. You would use it the same way right?

......Neat!

Interesting.

As graphite has a hardness of only 1,5-2 HMohs, I rather think it's the clay in the pencil. To ensure an even flowing regular line, this needs to be very fine and very regular in grit - just what we like in hones and slurries.

To test this, we can make use of pencil grading: this ranges from 9B very soft to 9H very hard (B for Blei or Blackness and H for Hart or Hardness). If eg 2B pencils give better results than 2H pencils, it must be the graphite. Note that one of the important quality differences between brands consists in the clay used, so make sure you compare different grades of the same brand.

If graphite unexpectedly does turn out to be the abrasive, we can all go looking for good value lock graphite. This is nearly pure graphite powder used for lubricating locks. It can be had as (solution free) sprays or powder tins.

I love these kinds of methods involving repurposed materials. Thanks for the tip!

Incidentally, I've had great results stropping on newspaper before, and I've often wondered if it's possible to put newspaper ink on a more durable material (balsa, linen, etc.) and get the same results. Anybody ever tried it?

People used to rub charcoal and allsorts into their strops to make them slightly abrasive. My great grandfather used a straight all his life, my grandfather said he (his father) didn't use a hone at all, Gramps thinks he rubbed ashes into is stop.
Here are two pictures of them one with my Great great grandfather
sorry if I'm off topic, but one of them is the oldest straight user you'll ever come face to face with:D
In the group photo the baby is Grampa, the Lady is My G G Grandmother Ma' Bennett (she had a renowned chippy)
There
The second picture is Grampa in uniform during WWII, he was on the landing craft. Not a nice job I'm told. He is 84 this year.

I like the idea of trying graphite to strop. I worked in the refractory buisiness years ago and one of the ingredients in a refractory brick is graphite. I managed to acquire about 6 ounces of the stuff before the plant shut down. I will try it on leather and maybe balsa or coldpress paper.

Another thought I had was regarding artist's guoache ( pron. gwash ) which is a water based paint used by calligraphers in lieu of ink because ink fades over time and guoache does not. The particular color I am refering to is 'Lamp Black" which has a carbon pigment base. Powders do not come much finer in grade than lamp black and it just might work as a strop abrasive treatment for leather or other strop surfaces.

I haven't tried either of the above but I intend to as soon as I get done trying cerium ox, tin ox, yellowstone and sapphire dust, ( I am going to forgo donkey dust for the time being ). If anyone wants to try the guoache, buy the Windsor Newton brand for the best quality paint.

You might also try it on a piece of 140 lb. acid free coldpress paper to strop with. Get it at the same store where you buy the W N lamp black paint. Paste a piece of coldpress on a piece of balsa or steel plate or tile. Brush some cerium ox or tin ox or any medium you like on the paper. It's a nice surface to strop on. Paper have what is called "tooth". A different tooth will give you a different feel or 'drag" as you strop on the surface of the paper.

Don't use hotpress paper, it has too much texture for the razor's edge. If you live near an A. C. MOORE art store, they have all this stuff including pencils with varying hardness.

Hopefully, other members will have more thoughts on different stropping media. Pretty soon you guys will have me stropping on my tongue !!!
That's O K as long as I don't have to use donkey dust !!!..... Jerry:gl:

rrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

NOW I'M GONNA HAVE PAD??

NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!


heh heh PAD

Quote:

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Originally Posted by littlesilverbladefromwale

People used to rub charcoal and allsorts into their strops to make them slightly abrasive. My great grandfather used a straight all his life, my grandfather said he (his father) didn't use a hone at all, Gramps thinks he rubbed ashes into is stop.

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An old trick I learned on tobacco pipe smoking forums is to take cigar ash to polish tarnished sterling silver bands on the pipe shanks. The band can be black with tarnish and cigar ash will clean and shine it without affecting the nomenclature stamped into the band. So obviously there is a fine abrasive at work there. Cool photos, thanks for posting them.

Where's my THANKS !!!???:rofl2:

Here we go :)
+1 on the art supply stores, also for fine grade chromium oxide.

Jimmy, cigar ash together with saliva forms a very mild alkaline mix.
Thats why. :)
(Works with cigarette ash as well)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mrsell63

Another thought I had was regarding artist's guoache ( pron. gwash ) which is a water based paint used by calligraphers in lieu of ink because ink fades over time and guoache does not. The particular color I am refering to is 'Lamp Black" which has a carbon pigment base. Powders do not come much finer in grade than lamp black and it just might work as a strop abrasive treatment for leather or other strop surfaces.

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I remember reading that Dovo Black paste is lamp black.

Daniel Smith art supplies has great quality pigments.


Charlie

Then the next question is; which medium has the lowest micron rating - the Dovo paste or the Windsor Newton guoache ??? I honestly don't know the answer to that question and I doubt that it's worth the effort to find out.

Sometimes we take all this too far. If we start with a good bevel and end up around .25 micron after stropping the bejesus out of it, we should get a decent shave no matter how we got there.

Concentrate on the enjoyment of getting there..... JERRY :rock:

Just a quick thought about stropping on paper. It just occurred to me that paper money is actually not made of paper. It is made of good quality cloth. :gaah::thinking: I wonder if it might work as a strop, pasted or not.....
For an open mind, it isn't all that far fetched.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 0livia

Sounds great!
Graphite is a mix that includes clay.
Depending on the hardness of the pencil its more or less.
Should be interesting to find out which ones work best.
(And what type of clay it is, hehehe)

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Is it not " China Clay" ????

PuFF