CrOx on linen! Waste of time?

I have a leather and linen strop I bought recently. I was wondering if it is worth putting the CrOx on one side of the linen? Would it just be a waste of the CrOx? Should I wait and get a paddle strop?

My problem is that I have spent a good deal more than I originally intended on my straight shaving journey so far. I feel so embarrassed because that never happens around here... :rofl2:

So If I could get as much function out of my current strop as possible that would be great! Let me know your opinions!

If the reverse side of your leather strop is smooth, put the Chromium Oxide there. I have never pasted linen before, I always paste the reverse side of my leather and it works great.

hmm, I posted a reply and it disappeared....:thinking:



Anyhow, I have a pasted paddle and a pasted hanging linen strop: paddle is "slower" at polishing the shaving edge than the hanging pasted strop. Both work great.

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Originally Posted by Mike7120

If the reverse side of your leather strop is smooth, put the Chromium Oxide there. I have never pasted linen before, I always paste the reverse side of my leather and it works great.

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Unfortunately the underside of my leather is not smooth :(

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Originally Posted by joke1176

hmm, I posted a reply and it disappeared....:thinking:



Anyhow, I have a pasted paddle and a pasted hanging linen strop: paddle is "slower" at polishing the shaving edge than the hanging pasted strop. Both work great.

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I am very sorry, but I have this posted in two spots. I originally put it in the strops section, but I felt that it is probably more of a honing or newbie questions I posted it here. Should I delete the other?

No big deal, I'm just glad I'm not losing my mind! :eek:

When things like this do occur, I always assume I had a mini-stroke or something.

You could have fooled me good.

Maybe you could get a piece of balsa and paste it for touch ups, I haven't used it but I hear it works well.

IMO, using CRO on hanging linen would be the most ideal, although the smooth side of hanging leather or a paddle would be okay, too.

Josh earl has a thread about applying the Chromium Oxide, and he uses hanging linen in the thread. I use hanging linen and I really like it.

I really do believe the most important thing about using CRO is to not apply too much on whatever medium you use.

Steve

i have a cro-ox linen strop. works great as a refresher/touchup, but i do not use daily. only as i feel it is needed.

if you can take apart your strop then do it. if you decide you don't like it, then flip the linen around.

vgod

I've had good results with pastes on the linen side of my strops. My only concern is that linen offers a bit more absorption than leather, and more area for the pastes to penetrate, since it's not a smooth surface, as a result I've needed to reapply more often in my experience. Am I nuts or does anyone else agree?

I bought just an old linen strop and cleaned it up. I chrome ox'd it and it works great for touchups.

I've just put Cro Ox (waxed block shavings melted in Neat'sfoot oil) on one side of my linen strop and it works great. before I had rubbed the hard wax block into the linen but it made a thick layer that cracked in the cold and stuck to fibres giving an uneven surface.

With a little of the oily mix rubbed lightly across the top of the linen it soaks in evenly and works a treat, just got my four best razors sharper than ever using this method.

I rubbed the back of the razor up and down to smooth it into the fibres.

WARNING, apply thinly with feather light strokes or it will go through to the other side of the linen.

I reckon I'll make up a small bottle of the green oily mix to apply as needed, the green block is not so great on it's own.

So what store can I purchase some CrOx powder from? Is water/CrOx powder mix still the preferred method for applying the power to linen? If so, what ratio of water to powder should I use?

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Originally Posted by mziter

So what store can I purchase some CrOx powder from? Is water/CrOx powder mix still the preferred method for applying the power to linen? If so, what ratio of water to powder should I use?

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Chris L might still have some Chromium Oxide powder. I think I paid $4.00 and he gave me enough to paste at least 5 strops. Send him a PM.

I use neatsfoot oil as a medium, it works great.

Oh and I forgot to mention, if you buy from Chris L, he sends you instructions on how to mix the powder and also how to apply it.

I’ve never used any linen “components” in my sharpening, honing, and stropping regime, so I can’t say it it’s good or bad. As far as CrOx goes, the stuff is dirt cheap. I glued some leather scrap on a wooden kitchen cutting board purchased at T.J. Maxx and ripped it on a friend’s table saw. 2 dirt cheap paddle strops. CrOx + a little neatsfoot oil gives you the equivalent of very high grit 30,000+ honing stone, almost literally. It will make all the difference in your sharpening and leave your linen to do other things with. Results that will blow you away and did I mention – Dirt Cheap? Remember, if it’s too good to be true it probably is not – This does NOT apply here! How many times in life does that happen?

I forgot I won a "selective" leather and canvas on ebay and figured it was a piece of junk. Do you think it would be alright for the CrOx? I can post a picture if you want but I think you guys probably already know of there quality.