Polishing after honing with pastes

I am getting an OK shave after honing but I want my razors sharper.

I don't have a coticule stone, but I have a dovo loom strop with green and red dovo pastes, and a linen and leather dovo hanging strop. After doing pyramids on the norton 4000/8000k, I have been using the red dovo paste to polish the edge, then I strop with leather. I am still not happy with the results. Is there some step that I am missing?

I am afraid of overing honing so I am trying to use pastes to finish my edge. I just ordered the green dovo paste because I thought that I needed something coarser then the red paste. But after reading threads today, I think the green paste might be too coarse. Classicshaving.com says it is 6 microns coarse which I just learned is coarser than the 4000k norton. I haven't put the green paste on my loom strop yet because I know that once you put it on you can't get it off.

Does anyone use the green dovo pastes?

I just watched 'The World of Straight Razor Shaving' again and Lynn said that the green paste, it looked like the dovo paste, was .5 microns.

Can anyone confirm this?

Chromium Oxide is a green paste, used by many on these forums as a final polishing compound before shaving. If Lynn said on his video that it is 0.5 micron, than he's talking about Chromium Oxide.

The Dovo green paste is NOT Chromium Oxide. It is much coarser, 6 micron is probably correct. If you hone on a solid hone till the 8K level, you don't need Dovo green paste. Chromium Oxide, on the other hand, could do great things for your 8K edge.

Bart.

Two different Green pastes there, Lynn uses the Crome oxide at .50 the Dovo Green is closer to 5-8 microns


Hehe what Bart of the faster fingers than I just said

What about the dovo red paste? Should I use it after I hone?

This is sorta where the alchemy of honing gets funny :confused:
I believe that yes you will get a benefit from the Dovo Red paste (3-5 microns) and an even bigger benefit from the Dovo Black paste(1-3 microns) and a huge jump in smoothness from .50 Cr

But before any paste helps you have to have a properly honed razor....

Question??? How many laps on the Red pasted strop are you doing????

I do about 20-30 laps with the red paste.

When I hone, I do the pyramid reps suggested in The World of Straight Razor Shaving. 3-3 1-3 1-5 on 4000/8000k norton. Then I strop with the red paste and then leather and then test shave. If the razor pulled hairs, then I would to a 1-3 1-5 pyramid and then strop with paste then leather. It has gotten several of my practice razors sharp enough to be good shaves, but it seems like it is hit or miss. It seems like razors sharpen differently.

Thats a lot of laps of the red paste....
My suggestion would be drop the red to 10 light laps or try dropping it out of the mix totally and increase your finishing laps on the 8k...
It seems that you are almost there, you might try 20 very light laps on the 8k letting it go to dry to squeak the most out of it, then straight to leather and see if that helps.....

Another way would be the 10 red then 20 on newspaper then leather.....

And yes Razors sharpen differently!!!!!

So I should nix the dovo green paste, and put .5 micron diamond paste on a strop, then progress from the hone to the red paste, the .5 micron diamond paste, then the leather strop?

What do you mean by 'letting it go to dry to squeak the most out of it'?

And how does newspaper compair in coarseness to the pastes?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brandon Lee

So I should nix the dovo green paste, and put .5 micron diamond paste on a strop, then progress from the hone to the red paste, the .5 micron diamond paste, then the leather strop?

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That should work yes, watch out there is a difference between .5 diamond and .5 Cr the Diamond is slightly more aggressive...
Many here use the .50 diamond then some laps on the .5 Cr for a very smooth result....
See how it starts to become an art now, instead of just science, and different steels react differently to all these things.....

You have a PM

I don't have many surfaces to put paste on. I have a loom strop with red dovo paste and bare leather. I wanted to paste the bare side with a paste to help transition the edge from hone to strop. What would you suggest, the .5 diamond or the .5 Cr? I have read that some people just use pieces of bulsa wood for paste surfaces, if I did that I would be able to use more pastes. Also when should I use the linen side of my dovo strop. I have read that pastes hone and leather and linen realign, does this seem right?

Balsa strops are great to work with, they are cheap and easy, and can give you an idea of where you want to go....
Remember when using paste less is better a few X's of paste should be all ya need per strop... (There is a thread on how to paste a strop)

You should leave one linen and leather strop untouched for everyday use....

Some people on here will argue that pastes hone, but I don't agree there, hones and stones are one thing, strops and pastes are another IMHO

When to use the linen is also a matter of opinion, I think everyday, to clean the edge, before the leather, but the other side of the coin thinks only when the edge degrades to where the leather doesn't help any more....
As you can see there is a lot of personal opinion when it comes to getting razors sharp and how to keep them there...
Keep tweaking your way, until you get a close, smooth, comfortable shave everytime....
A water stone is less efficient at cutting or smoother as it drys on the surface allowing you to get the most out of that stone.....

Thanks for all of the info, you have given me alot to think about. It is very interesting how the hone become less abrasive as it dries out.

What paste would you suggest ...

Classic shaving has a , .50 micron Diamond Sharpening Paste. Can I put this paste directly on the leather side of my loom strop? And would this paste be a good paste to use after the red dovo paste? So after honing I would use the red paste, the .5 micron paste, then the leather?

You are most welcome, that is what the forum is all about...
The .5 diamond is not a bad choice at all, but if I were going to pick one finishing paste it would be the .50Cr..... PM ChrisL he might have some of the small packets of it left....

A lot of us hang out in the chat room all the time too, please join us if you would like, just hit the chat link above.....

Good luck!!!!!

Can I put the diamond paste on a loom strop? Classicshaving.com says that it should be used with a with a high quality compressed leather bench hone.

They say that because it is easy to overhone with Diamond paste, and with an uneven surface it becomes worse...
A paddle strop or loom should be fine just take it light and easy....

Remember a strop is yer friend, but used wrong it will wipe a beautiful edge out fast.....

I went to the flashchat barbershop chat room but no one is in there.

So what do you think of the idea of honing, useing the red paste, the .5 Cr paste, and then the leather strop.

Where can I get the .5o Cr paste again?

Also what do you mean by stroping messing up an edge fast. I like useing the pasted strops because I feel like I have more control with the stroping motion vs the edge first, honing motion.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brandon Lee

I went to the flashchat barbershop chat room but no one is in there.

So what do you think of the idea of honing, useing the red paste, the .5 Cr paste, and then the leather strop. Sounds good !!!!!

Where can I get the .5o Cr paste again? ChrisL a member here had sample packs

Also what do you mean by stroping messing up an edge fast. I like useing the pasted strops because I feel like I have more control with the stroping motion vs the edge first, honing motion. Then you should be good, just keep checking the edge as you go until you feel comfortable with it.....

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Sorry wrong link we are in the IRC chat hit the link above.... where is says CHAT in the tool bar.....

How do I contact this Chris L. I tried to send him a message but I was unable to.

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Chromium Oxide powder sample pack - Straight Razor Place Classifieds