Thread: Stropping & Metal Removal

Originally Posted by LarryAndro

I want the bevel to be fairly free of striations and indentations of any type. Just smooth like a shaven face! But CrO hasn't been able to get me quite there.

Larry, I've gotten razors from the heavy honing hitters on and off of SRP and done a fair amount of my own. I haven't found any that fit that description. I don't know if you can have both a totally smooth striation free edge and a super shaving blade. It may be doable but IME it isn't necessary for great smooth bbs shaves.

For me chrome ox always makes for a smoother feeling edge. Early on diamond paste made them sharper but they felt harsher to me. Now I find them sharper and not harsher after paste. Whether this is an improvement in my honing/stropping or shaving technique I cannot say. The paste hasn't changed ... just the feeling.

My comments about the smoothness - like a shaven face - were relative. Stated more judiciously, I want it smoother than I was achieving with CrO.

GSSixGun's comment about anything being abrasive if used long enough, and that leather is relatively unabrasive fits in with the consistent comments I've read on this site. And, that is why I was surprised at the results from 50 passes with the strop (before my initial scoping.)

I really suspect I have a treated strop.

IIRC Randy told me that a guy that used to post on the Yahoo group used cocoa powder and proved that even it had some abrasive quality. Strange but true .... if I remember correctly.

Maybe this is the cocoa powder article referred to below...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/basic...po-method.html

It discusses at length some of the odd and unusual methods to polish metal, from guns to straights.

Originally Posted by LarryAndro

Maybe this is the cocoa powder article referred to below...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/basic...po-method.html

It discusses at length some of the odd and unusual methods to polish metal, from guns to straights.

Indeed it is. Very interesting too don't you think ? Here we are spending all of this money on stones when all we needed was cocoa powder and Vaseline on an old pair of Levis.

We are all analytical and scientific. That's half the fun! The Baby Boomers really didn't have to spend half their life tuning up their muscle cars, did they? And, we probably don't have to spend all this time in "fruitless" conversations about sharpening a blade either. Sharp is sharp.

But...

I would hate for your blade to be faster on the drag strip than my blade!

Originally Posted by LarryAndro

We are all analytical and scientific. That's half the fun! The Baby Boomers really didn't have to spend half their life tuning up their muscle cars, did they? And, we probably don't have to spend all this time in "fruitless" conversations about sharpening a blade either. Sharp is sharp.

But...

I would hate for your blade to be faster on the drag strip than my blade!

Reminds me of a sign in a speed shop I went into years ago,"Speed is expensive, how fast do you want to go"?

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Water running across the blade is mildly abrasive also and 1,ooo,ooo years from now the edge will be sharper...

The question is answered yes anything rubbed across the edge is abrasive but in it intended use and amount of time for this intended use Leather is not considered abrasive, unless pasted....

On the abrasion scale it goes

Plain leather
Linen/Cotton/Webbing
Pasted Felt
Pasted Leather
Pasted Balsa
Hones

These are the intended uses, but yes if you want to get technical all these are abrasives....

Hey, you stole that one about water from me and you didn't even give me credit for it.

GSSixGun seemingly plagiarized TheBigSpendur. But, GSSixGun is a moderator which gives him privileges. Oh! TheBigSpendur is a moderator too. What to do? Since TheBigSpendur joined SRP about two years before GSSixGun...

public flogging of GSSixGun is in order.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Hey, you stole that one about water from me and you didn't even give me credit for it.

I did steal that from you, and I freely admit to stealing such a great saying

Now think of another so I can steal that too... Muhahahaha