Thread: Advice on paste please !

I have been using my straight for about 3 weeks daily now, Wont be able to buy a second razor for months yet and have obvously been reading about the sharpening paste to maintain the edge as i am using it so much. As i am UK based the diamond pastes i read about are not as available as the Dovo Red and Green pastes which are ie The Invisible Edge site. I intend to get a rigid paddle (right choice ?) and then do you recommend i use this make of paste. Do i need to just use the Red paste for a while a nd then move to the harsher green and if so do you use the green for some strokes and then the red for some to grade it ? There seems to be videos of people using the green paste, stropping and then to straight to shave ? And finally !! how often should i use it in my stropping routine ?
Thanks for your time.

This might be helpful if you haven't already read it.

Pasting a strop - a photo tutorial - Straight Razor Place Wiki

I would steer clear of the Dovo pastes, but you should find these two articles helpful:

1. What hone(s) do I need? - Straight Razor Place Wiki
2. Easily make a pasted balsa strop - Straight Razor Place Wiki

The Thiers Issard diamond pastes are also available in Europe. Failing that, you can PM me your address, and I can borrow you a red/green Dovo pasted hanging strop for the time being.

Regards,
Robin

Thank you Beberlin very much for the offer, i have found a site selling the ones you suggested , pricer than the Dovo thats for sure but you generally get what you pay for ! i will take the advice and avoid the Dovo, can justify the extra expense to the wife by making the balsa strop instead of buying -- Great !!! thanks once again.

Rather than pastes, which will eventually round your edge, Can you afford a cheap hone. A Barber hone will help keep it keen in between major honing sessions.
Even a Chinese 12k, I think are available in Europe would be better that trying to maintain your blade with pastes...Any hone in the 12k range or better will work...

Originally Posted by Brummel

Thank you Beberlin very much for the offer, i have found a site selling the ones you suggested , pricer than the Dovo thats for sure but you generally get what you pay for ! i will take the advice and avoid the Dovo, can justify the extra expense to the wife by making the balsa strop instead of buying -- Great !!! thanks once again.

Brummel,

++1 on the previous advice. Read the SRP wiki to learn how to apply the paste and how much to your strop as well as how many passes with your razor across the pasted strop will be sufficient to maintain the blade's sharpness.

And you needn't use the pasted strop everyday. You should be able to maintain the edge of your str8 razor by stropping it on your regular everyday strop--50 fabric and 50 leather--for several months.

I am somewhat new to the str8 razor life myself. That having been said, I would wait 5-6 months before stropping my str8 razor on a pasted strop--and then only 5 -10 strokes at any one time, no more.

Just my 2 cents.

Take care--and smooth shaving.

+1 on the Barber hone. You can acquire one for around 50 dollars shipped, lapped also - Sham (hi_Bud_gl) often has them for sale in the Classifieds, you've just gotta be lucky and snag one before others will!

I find the pastes can round your edge when used excessively and prefer the edge off a hone every time. You also need to use a strop for this, which may mean purchasing another as you can only use that one for pastes - you will still need leather for routine stropping, and canvas if u like it.

Go for the barber hone as you need very few strokes, (5-6) so are less likely to go wrong if you lack honing experience so far; while it will familiarise you will the basics of honing.

I would recommend this at this stage over a Chinese 12K, as the latter requires many strokes (50-100), which opens the potential for greater error if your technique is incorrect.

Where in the UK are u based?

Am new to straight razor shaving myself (12 weeks) and i live in england.I agree with previous members advice plus i know that strops can be pretty expensive and once the strop surface is covered in red or green paste you cannot switch over.Therefore you would need a strop with two or four sides.I use a paddle strop refurbished by tony miller of Strop-shop.co.uk.(As this strop is made of latigo leather and horse hide i do not need to use paste.)I recommend this site as he makes strops of all types but once again these can be expensive.
As suggested already a single hone might be the answer.I used a 10k naniwa hone at first for touching up the razor edge.You might be able to pick up a dual sided barber hone 4k/8k which would possibly be more useful.
hope this helps.
regards
Noggs

Originally Posted by Brummel

I have been using my straight for about 3 weeks daily now, Wont be able to buy a second razor for months yet and have obvously been reading about the sharpening paste to maintain the edge as i am using it so much. As i am UK based the diamond pastes i read about are not as available as the Dovo Red and Green pastes which are ie The Invisible Edge site. I intend to get a rigid paddle (right choice ?) and then do you recommend i use this make of paste. Do i need to just use the Red paste for a while a nd then move to the harsher green and if so do you use the green for some strokes and then the red for some to grade it ? There seems to be videos of people using the green paste, stropping and then to straight to shave ? And finally !! how often should i use it in my stropping routine ?
Thanks for your time.

You are probably comparing two different pastes here, NOT all green pastes are the same, Dovo is a rather harsh 5-8 micron and the other CrOX is a very fine .50 micron

Here is something I wrote some time back that might help you decide what you need...


Some thoughts on honing razors..

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aspiring honers are often not clear about what they are trying to accomplish when it comes to honing razors. In particular, they are often unsure of what they are doing and how often they should be doing it. Some questions you might want to answer for yourself before you start buying hones:

■ Are you an "end-user"; someone who only hones a previously shave-ready blade back to shave-ready?
■ Are you a hobbyist who is chasing the absolute finest edge that may be obtained where money is no object?
■ Are you a frugal shaver who is after the cheapest way to complete your morning shave?
■ Are you a collector who needs to take E-bay specials from butt-ugly to shave-ready?
■ Are you a Honemeister; someone who gets paid to do all of these things for others?
■ Are you a razor restorer who needs to take damaged blades and bring them back to life and shave-readiness?

Each of these types of honer profiles have different requirements for the stones they will own. Theoretically, you can survive using the "one stone" approach, but each razor does have an optimum stone set - and more importantly, a technique for using the required hones. So generally, when somebody asks what stone or how to use what stone, the question to ask them is: "What are you trying to accomplish with the stone(S)?"

Refreshing vs. Starting from Scratch:

The types of hones required depends first and foremost on the type of honing you want to do.

Hones needed for refreshing a dull blade:

If the only task you want to perform is refreshing edges that have previously been established by a Honemeister (the process is often referred to as "touching up"), you need only get a fine grit finishing stone or a barber's hone for this. Either of these hones can be used to keep your razor(s) shave-ready for years.

Hones needed for restoring razors:

If you want to set a bevel, or have many different types of razors, you will need a full set of hones.


A bevel setting stone approximately 1k

DMT's 325 600 1200, Shapton 500, 1K and 2K, Coticules with slurry, Norton 1k, Naniwa 1k

A sharpening stone approximately 4k

Norton 4K, Shapton 4K Naniwa 3k or 5k, Belgian Blue with slurry

A polishing stone approximately 8k

Norton 8k, Shapton 8k, Naniwa 8k, Yellow Coticule

A finishing stone 10k and above (this is often subject to debate, however)

Shapton GS 16k-30k Shapton 15k Naniwa SS 10k-12k or Chosera 12k, Thuringens, Escher's, Many different natural Japanese finishers, Charlney Forest, Extra Fine Coticule, even some of the Arkansas stones...

You have several choices of how to accomplish this setup whether you use natural, man-made stone, or a Diamond-style stone, but you are going to have to be able to cover those 4 grit ranges. There really is no true shortcut here if you expect to take razors acquired in need of restoration from butter knife dull (or damaged) to shaving sharp: You are going to end up needing these types of stones. This can also be accomplished with the judicious use of a slurry but essentially you are still going through these grit stages...


Pastes can be used after the hones and before the final stropping also these can be used for re-freshing the edge before going back to the hones for a touch-up...

A few different types

Dovo Pastes:

Green 5-8 micron
Red 3-5 micron
Black 1-3 micron
Dovo pastes are a much more mild cutter then say a diamond paste of the same micron size...

Diamond Paste:

From 3 micron down to actually .10 micron if you really wanted to...
These pastes are fast and many people use them incorrectly and manage too get a harsh edge, when used correctly and on the right razor steel these will most likely be the sharpest edge you will ever feel...

Diamond sprays:

Mostly found in 1.0 .50 and .25 micron watch the Carat content here, the higher the better (SRD has the best I have found and yes Lynn and Don are friends of mine, but heck it is still the best spray I have found)

Chromium Oxide Paste/Powder .50 micron (CrOx)
Probably the most universal of the pastes, get the most pure you can find, and no the bars at Woodcrafters are not pure...

Cerium Oxide Paste/Powder (approx).25 micron (CeOx)

Super fine, super soft, and super smooth, polishing media...The bar at Woodcrafter's is of unknown quality at this time

Other Pastes and Powders:

Iron Oxide
Aluminum Oxide

Both of these can also be used again be very careful when buying this stuff as the purity and the micron sizes are very important...

Carbon blacking/lamp black:

This might be the oldest of all the sharpening "pastes" when used on a leather strop it increases draw

Wood Ash:

Another old fashioned one very slightly abrasive when used on Linen strops and Leather strops..

White chalk:

Can be rubbed on a linen strop to increase the abrasive qualities

Newspaper:

The ink itself is a very fine abrasive and so is the paper..

Keep in mind that different razor steels like/dislike different pastes, and the different media that is used to apply it including Balsa, Linen, Leather (paddle) Leather (hanger) and Felt paddle and hanger all give different results on different razor steels....


The above are only my personal opinions and observations... There are no set rules in Razordom...


PS: I did not include Films as I do not have much knowledge in their use... There are also many other stones that could fit in here But again I haven't even used them once let alone have true knowledge of them so I did not include them...

I agree with Zib, pick up a barbers hone inexpensively. You get a much nicer shave than the pastes and no mess and the edge lasts longer