Thread: 1K pasted MDF Strop

OK folks, here's the story.

Last night, I took the Rongin razor I've been fighting with--the one I wasn't able to get a bevel on, the one that TAUNTED me with its dullness...and I took it to the pasted strops.

Now, the thing is, the bevel had not been set solely on the 1K pasted strop; it was part of the process, but most of the work came off a diamond plate. So that's the big caveat on this one.

So, I gave the edge a few strokes on the 1K to keen it up a touch more, then 25 strokes on the 3K.

When I went to test the keenness, the TPT wsa good, kind of sticky (I'm not very good with this one yet) and so I went to the arm hair test. As the blade approached my skin, it just started THROWING hairs. 25 strokes on the 3K and hairs were popping like crazy. I was flabbergasted...Not at all expecting that. So I goofed around with that a while, a big silly grin on my face, and then got myself back together. I gave the blade 5 more laps and tested again, a bit smoother at popping hairs, so I moved up to the 1m diamond paste. I had been worried about the size of this jump--3k is roughly 4m, and 1m is a touch finer than 8K--I want a 2m or 6k to go in the middle, but oh well. I gave it 15 passes on the 1m diamond, and the hairs were falling like bras at a Tom Jones concert.

So I moved up to the .5 diamond, and it got even smoother. Finished on .25 then, kind of thoughtlessly, .5 CrOx.

The shave?

FAN FREAKING TASTIC. This is leaps and bounds the best edge I've honed (which isn't saying much) but it is very near to the best edge I've shaved with, including some from professionals and experienced honers. It's not flawless--the toe isn't perfect, which is a matter of my skill rather than the strops, and it could stand a TOUCH more keenness (I could feel the hairs cut--not a true "velvet squeegee") but I have absolutely no hesitation saying this is a shave ready edge. And from 1k to .25m took no more than 8 minutes.

BUT. I didn't set the bevel on the 1K.

SO that's what I did tonight. IN fact, I had an edge with some pitting and microchipping, so I dropped down to 400GC.

The 400 powder is perhaps not optimal for a pasted strop. It's so coarse, it rolls around a lot and gets really messy--I'll work on this one. However, after a very long time, I got past the chips. I moved up to the 1k.

The bevel proved a challenge again, as this blade is slightly smiling and I am just not good at that yet. The toe and heel took some extra work, but eventually--they got there. I set the bevel on the 1K pasted strop, spine leading only.

I moved up the progression just like I did with the Rongin, and now I have a razor just sitting there waiting to shave me. I'm going to shave in about 20 minutes, but I have only a little doubt (that darned smile...). The arm hairs were jumping out of the way on this one, too.

I did some things wrong with this, I know. I should have been more careful with my pastes--I think I got a little cross-contamination. I should have used s straight edge. I should have taken more pictures. I should have used more uniform wood.

But the problems with the edges are all MY problems--lack of skill, lack of experience with steel--rather than the strops.

But it works. And for me, it works REALLY REALLY well. I can't wait to get better at it...