Thread: CBN strops.... a thought

Originally Posted by Utopian

I have no experience with CBN. I thought I might be interested in trying it but I'm learning nothing about it in this thread. I'm not "upset" about the constant derailment of the topic, just bored with it.

I may be overly enthusiastic, and maybe overreaching as a newbie, but I find CBN (cubic boron nitride) an amazing abrasive. The tightness of particle size distribution, the efficiency of abrasion/sharpening on razors edge, and the "smoothness" mirror-like edge that can be quickly attained is quite remarkable. The only downside is that the slurries or suspensions of CBN are quite expensive. The best source I've found thus far is Jende Industries.

All you need is a substrate that has a fine weave to hold the grit, does not have it’s own grit larger than CBN and that can be wet.

That eliminates most conventional substrates.

Good substrates are paper, fine weave cloths and nylon/polyester strapping.

Ken is to my knowledge the only one producing suspensions pure enough for our use.

He does sell them through Chef’s Knifes to Go, as well.

Yes they are pricy, but really for razors all you need is .50um and possibly .125um. One bottle is more than a life time supply.

I have been stropping on one CBN strop for over 3 years with one application (4 squirts).

The biggest problem is contamination, it does not wear out.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

All you need is a substrate that has a fine weave to hold the grit, does not have it’s own grit larger than CBN and that can be wet.

That eliminates most conventional substrates.

Good substrates are paper, fine weave cloths and nylon/polyester strapping.

Ken is to my knowledge the only one producing suspensions pure enough for our use.

He does sell them through Chef’s Knifes to Go, as well.

Yes they are pricy, but really for razors all you need is .50um and possibly .125um. One bottle is more than a life time supply.

I have been stropping on one CBN strop for over 3 years with one application (4 squirts).

The biggest problem is contamination, it does not wear out.

What do you think about using the 2.0 micron or the 4.0 micron CBN slurries in place of an 8000 grit stone to set the bevel? I tried it with 2.0, since I have the 4.0 on order, using nanocloth mounted on a glass plate, and it seems to work very well (visual assessment) and fast.... I'm in the process of taking it onto the 1.0 micron and the 0.5 micron CBN nanocloth on glass strops to finish.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

All you need is a substrate that has a fine weave to hold the grit, does not have it’s own grit larger than CBN and that can be wet.

That eliminates most conventional substrates.

Good substrates are paper, fine weave cloths and nylon/polyester strapping.

Ken is to my knowledge the only one producing suspensions pure enough for our use.

He does sell them through Chef’s Knifes to Go, as well.

Yes they are pricy, but really for razors all you need is .50um and possibly .125um. One bottle is more than a life time supply.

I have been stropping on one CBN strop for over 3 years with one application (4 squirts).

The biggest problem is contamination, it does not wear out.

Ken Schwartz is a cool dude. Besides running Jende Industries where he sells his CBN slurries and other sharpening stuff, he does sell through Chef's Knifes to Go.

Originally Posted by DoctorSaul

I would think that since the glass fibers are quite brittle, the act of stropping would break off fine pieces of glass fiber which, as you suspect, would not feel too good on the skin if left on the razor. As I understand it the advantage of a glass plate is that it is an unyielding flat surface that would be difficult to deform during the stropping process, hence eliminating the negative effects on the razor edge (roll over) that can occur with flexible strops or strop substrates that can be deformed with pressure.

Besides glass plate, I wonder if anyone has tried using a flat metal plate with an abrasive like CBN as a razor strop.

Geeze, I neglected to give credit to Euclid440 for teaching me the use of non-deformable substrates and why "roll over" on a strop is to be avoided. Mea Culpa!

Pretty sure Jende is run by Tom Blodgett. On using soft vs. hard backing for the substrate, soft backing that has "give" will allow the abrasive to act like a finer one, evening out scratch depth and making scratches shallower. A hard substrate will of course do the opposite and leave a higher percentage of anomalous deep scratches.

Originally Posted by eKretz

Pretty sure Jende is run by Tom Blodgett. On using soft vs. hard backing for the substrate, soft backing that has "give" will allow the abrasive to act like a finer one, evening out scratch depth and making scratches shallower. A hard substrate will of course do the opposite and leave a higher percentage of anomalous deep scratches.

You are right... Tom Blodgett sells Ken Schwartz's products on the Jende website. Sorry for the misinformation.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Ken is to my knowledge the only one producing suspensions pure enough for our use.

.

Pretty sure Ken does not produce CBN,.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

I was bearded for 45 years. Times changed. I shave all but a Van Dyke, and that might go by the wayside as my skills in shaving and honing improve. After all, you start life with a BBS face, what's to say you can't go out with one.

He was great in Mary Poppins!

I'm sporting his namesake as well.