Thread: Diamond Paste

I have asked a few questions over the past few days and I appreciate all the knowledge shared, Yet I have another one. I have learned that it is important to use strop dressing on your strops, which I have done. Well I have a fresh double sided strop and I want to try the diamond paste, a #1 and a #.50. Do I need to apply strop dressing before applying the diamond paste or should I just apply diamond paste directly to the fresh leather? Also I read that you can use a pumice stone to smooth out your strops, any thoughts on this and when to use? Thanks again for all the knowledge! manonengine

Personally I like to keep one strop clean of any additives. I have another with paste, chrom ox and that sort of thing. Here is Josh Earl on pasting a strop and here is Tony Miller on pastes in general.

When I bought my diamond spray (Handmamerican), I was told to apply it to the linen side of the strop directly, rub it with my fingers, let it dry and use it. I have used it this way for months with good results. One thing to keep in mind is that the diamond spray is an abrasive so it is better to protect your fingers when you apply it to the strop. I only have one combination linen/leather strop. What I did was to coat the backside of the linen with the diamond spray. This has worked for me but I am not sure how this would work on strops lacking the linen.

Al raz.