Thread: What paste to get for my paddle strop

I just ordered a few nice things from Tony's web shop, one of them being a 3" wide paddle strop.
Now since they cannot ship diamond paste containers I am left with a choice to make and I need help.
I already bought 200/1000, 4000/8000 Nortons and a Chinese 12000 for honing practice.

Now in light of that with what grit diamond paste would be the best choice for finshing and doing some light touch ups?
Should I go for diamond paste or CrOx? and what kind of CrOx?

Have you had a look at Finishing Pastes - Straight Razor Place Wiki yet? Pastes will not necessarily add any value to your existing setup of hones.

Personally I have only shaved after using the Crox so I cannot give you any fair personal advice. However, I have not heard of anyone not being happy using the Crox to finish a blade. A lot of people feel the diamond paste is too harsh on most blades. I would tell you the Crox is a safer bet, but then again I am pretty new here! There is also a tutorial on pasting strops in the Wiki.

P.S. You can buy packets of Crox from Chris L in the classifieds for $4!!! I pasted a pretty big strop and still have a ton of it left.

I have .25 and .5 Diamond pastes, diamond spray, Boron Carbide paste and Chromium Oxide (spray and paste). While each razor seems to prefer slightly different treatment I think that if I had to choose one it would be chromium oxide. You can use it to freshen a razor that is not at it's peak, however, for that task alone the diamond may actually be superior. What I like about the CrOx is how it smooths out a harsh edge. I use it after a finishing hone or after a more agressive paste and have been pretty happy with the results. My setup is a flatbed hone with a bunch of different pads (various leather and hard felt) so I can use different pastes and sprays.

If you don't mind me asking, Where did you get the Chinese 12k. I've had trouble finding that, and a coticule.

Originally Posted by zib

If you don't mind me asking, Where did you get the Chinese 12k. I've had trouble finding that, and a coticule.

If you have a local Woodcraft nearby, they have them. I think they run about $30.

Originally Posted by zib

If you don't mind me asking, Where did you get the Chinese 12k. I've had trouble finding that, and a coticule.

Woodcraft for the Chinese 12K. Try Howard at the Perfect Edge or Ardennes Coticule for the coticule.

Ardennes has a beautiful natural coticule in the classifieds right now. I have been messing with the 1.0 diamond paste followed up with the chrom ox on a few razors. The paste really freshens up the edge and the crom ox seems to smooth it.

Thanks for all your imput so far.
I guess going 1.0 diamond and CrO paste on 2 sepperate paddle strops would be a win combination if I was to play around with pastes.
I guess I should first go for CrO and see how it works.

What are my options for getting CrO paste? I need a vendor that can ship internationaly.

One more thing, I noticed people saying less is more and tutorial teaches us that aswell but on Japanese Knife Sharpening it shows pretty hefty aplication of the paste. Is it different for knives?

Originally Posted by R420R

One more thing, I noticed people saying less is more and tutorial teaches us that aswell but on Japanese Knife Sharpening it shows pretty hefty aplication of the paste. Is it different for knives?

I have done it both ways. I got some of the liquid crom ox from Hand American and before I read the tutorial I applied it to the magnetic felt on my corian base. I didn't have it caked up or anything like that but the whole felt is covered with a thin coat. Later I got a Live loom strop off of ebay and it was coated the same way.

When I applied it to a 4 sided paddle I did the less is more method with the chrom and the diamond paste. Either way is working for me and I haven't had any problems with dulling blades as a result of the coating one way or the other. Short answer is the less is more works fine.