Thread: Dry honing with strop paste trick

Instead of water, I put some CrO paste on my Chinese 12K and I'm getting really fine and smooth edges. It seems to make the Ch12k an even finer grit stone. It also polishes my blades to a mirror. I'm still in the process of experimenting with it, but getting excellent shaves so far.

This opens a lot of possibilities. And a lot of need for experiment.
I have used coticule slurry on the DMT1200. Works very well and pleasant.
I haven't tried using it on synthetic hones yet.

I also mixed coticule dust with candle wax. I use it on a buffing wheel as a pre-polish, before the mirror polish. Works great.

I have had great success with using CrO paste on a felt strop or felt pad and not bad results from using it on leather. This is interesting. How does the razor move across the paste right on the stone? Do you feel that the blade is only coming in contact with the paste or with both the paste and the stone? One good thing is that now there is a good use of the Chinese 12K........hahahahahahah.......sorry, never been much of a fan of that stone.

Thanks,

Lynn

Which CrOx paste are you using?

On the microscopic level, CrO paste on strop forms a convex bevel. This insures that the edge is sharp even if the bevel is not complete, as the strop will always work the edge. That's why often the razor is not shave ready off the hone but after stropping with paste, it can shave quite easily.

On a hard surface like the Ch12k, you will get a true wedge edge at the microscopic level, and this edge is so sharp that I can shave my coarse beard without even having to pull the skin. However, the edge doesn't seem to last as long as using CrO on strop.

I rubbed some CrO on the Ch12k while the stone was still wet, and when it dried the CrO sticks to the surface without flaking off. I don't know if it's the stone or the CrO that's doing most of the honing work. The process is quite slow so use plenty of elbow grease.

Using this technique, some of my razors seem to take an edge better than others, although all of them can shave quite easily. I guess some razors use harder steel than others. I heard that some Swedish steels are tempered to HRC 64/65, and certain German razors do the same.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Which CrOx paste are you using?

I'm using the one by Formax. I think they added some wax to it so that it sticks easily to the surface.

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.

Originally Posted by cotdt

Instead of water, I put some CrO paste on my Chinese 12K and I'm getting really fine and smooth edges. It seems to make the Ch12k an even finer grit stone. It also polishes my blades to a mirror. I'm still in the process of experimenting with it, but getting excellent shaves so far.

I have to say, that is a freakin' brilliant outside-of-the-box kind of idea! The great thing is, unlike a strop, it would be easy to un-paste a hone!

If you are looking to put CRO paste on something hard, like the 12k Chinese you would do better putting it on something that would not cut the metal courser than the CRO. Maybe something like etched glass. I've never been a fan of mixing polishing grits and am anal about cleaning anything being polished before moving to a finer grit. But if CRO on a 12k works for you...

Two points to make...
1. over 5 years ago I asked Formax Mfg. what grit size they had and they responded that the grit would range up to 6 microns in size. The Lee Valley paste has a finer size but they would not give specifics. I also prefer the handamerican paste or powder. Someone will chime in with the website that is currently selling it.

2. Try using a flat piece of hardwood such as rock maple as a substrate for the Chrome Ox. Others have had luck with the balsa wood. Both would require a stropping motion.

Hope this helps,

Originally Posted by Joed

If you are looking to put CRO paste on something hard, like the 12k Chinese you would do better putting it on something that would not cut the metal courser than the CRO. Maybe something like etched glass. I've never been a fan of mixing polishing grits and am anal about cleaning anything being polished before moving to a finer grit. But if CRO on a 12k works for you...

I appreciate your point but, without actually trying it yet, I suspect that the reason it might work is because of the tendency of the Ch12?K to glaze over. The CRO might just fill into all of the low spots and end up like a layer of spackle over the hone. I'm going to give this a try soon just so that I can take a look at the effect under the microscope. I'm actually more curious what the hone, rather than the razor, will look like.