careful with the Formax "bars" - they can be used to provide a great shave, but in comparison to more pure or more finely graded chromium oxide like the hand american products, they aren't nearly as smooth.
When I was using a formax bar, I would notice little scratches visible on the bevel, where as with the hand american stuff the bevel is a total mirror polish and the shave is very noticeably smoother. The problem is that the bars are AT LEAST 50 percent aluminum oxide, and only 20 to 30 percent chromium oxide, and the grit/mesh size is noticeably larger than .5 micron.

Here's a post I put up a while back concerning these:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/basic...-bars-not.html

I know Seraphim has used both products, so perhaps he can chime in on this.