Thread: how do i get the paste on???

I got a barbers hone a few weeks ago and noticed that it left a pretty harsh edge on my straight, even with using lather and no pressure. So I decided to make a bench hone (or at least that's what I'm going to call it) to put some paste on. I got some 3" wide balsa cut it to 8" lengths and glue 4 of them together so now I got a 1" thick hone that sits very nicely on the table with some little sticky rubber feet that I put on the bottom. So what next, should I lap the hone? I was thinking about doing on either 600 on 1000 wet dry so I don't leave too rough a surface. How to I get the paste on? I settled on "mibro compound 6" I read a post on the forum about using it plus its dirt cheap and I'm on a budget. As far as I can tell (and I work in the metal trades) it is chrome ox, or at least chrome ox based. Alas what ever they used to turn it into a stick has left it too hard to transfer onto my hone so I'll have to crush it back into a powder, so should I use water or some sort of oil (maybe olive oil) to get it on the hone? Finally how much should I apply? am I shooting to cover the entire surface, or will a few X's do?

cheers
Omid

FWIW --

The instructions in the Wiki suggest mixing the powered abrasive with mineral oil, and applying X's to the balsa, and working the compound into the wood.

The balsa pasted strop I got from Whipped Dog was completely covered in CrOxide. Nothing "sparing" about it.

I used a CrOxide "honing compound" from Lee Valley, in a solid stick. I think it was designed to be used on a powered buffer. It worked nicely, rubbed into a cloth strop.

Charles

If your balsa is not flat you can sand it flat.
Finish with 2K 3M paper dry should do the trick.
Any coarse, medium, fine sand paper progression
will work. I have used my DMT on my "Green monster" balsa
hone to level it.

If your CrOx is powder mix a bit with mineral oil
so you have a paste as thick as tooth paste for
balsa (use CrOx and kneads foot oil on leather).

If you CrOx is a soft crayon that you can wipe on
the balsa -- go for it. Start with some XXXXXs
and rub it in.

If your CrOx is hard wax bound for buffing wheels
crush or file it and soften with a bit of anything
that softens it, even WD-40 might work. Not all
CrOx has the same grit you may find that you
want "the good stuff" that is about 0.5 micron.

Yes olive oil works, kneads foot oil also works
as does mineral oil. Just use small amounts...
small amounts multiple times as needed....

Apply in small amounts. It does not take a lot
and as it gets grey with steel add more green
stuff as needed.

Omid,

If the stick is too hard, finely grate it and add to some mineral oil (nutmeg graters work well for this purpose). Leave 'mix' to sit for a while, and then you can mash it into a paste. take a 'dollop' (US - 'snurdle') of this paste and rub it into the balsa with a peice of cotton waste (or similar).

You only need a light coating of the CrOx.

Good luck !

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

When i put cr ox and iron ox on some old leather i used the powder from whipped dog and mixed it with leather oil till it was like thin paint,i used a small paint brush to put on a thin coat and left it for a week for the oil to soak in then rubbed of any excess,not much came of because it was thin when applied and soaked into the pores of the leather making a perfect coating,the first lot i did was with ce ox and i made it into a paste and put some on then rubbed it in and rubbed of the excess,aside from being really messy i had trouble getting an even thin coat and it didn't work as i'd like

FWIW, You could glue some leather to that Balsa. Do you have a Tandy leather, or something similar nearby? They're online as well. Here's what I used.
Tandy Leather Factory - Natural Cowhide Leather Strips

I made two double sided paddles out of the 3'x50' piece. Worked out great. I was never fond of just plain balsa, although a lot of guys are. I prefer the feel and edge I get off the crox when it's applied to leather. It's pretty easy to do, and not expensive at all.

You said the crox was a "stick". Can you rub it on your material. SRD sells a stick of Crox. You use it like a crayon. If your using powder form, you can mix it with strop dressing or neetsfoot oil, etc...

Here is a tutorial by Josh Earl on the subject with photos. A little goes a long way.

thanks every one I'm just sitting down to work the stick into a powder, for those who asked it is a very hard stick, I ran it across the palm of my hand with loads of pressure and wasn't able to get any to transfer onto my hand. So I think I will paste it tomorrow and we'll go from there. How long should I let the paste dry before using, should a couple of days do?

cheers
Omid

Originally Posted by OmidFarahbakhsh

thanks every one I'm just sitting down to work the stick into a powder, for those who asked it is a very hard stick, I ran it across the palm of my hand with loads of pressure and wasn't able to get any to transfer onto my hand. So I think I will paste it tomorrow and we'll go from there. How long should I let the paste dry before using, should a couple of days do?

cheers
Omid

You can use it almost immediately. Since you
are grating your stick make sure there are
no lumps. If you have excess it will show
up on the spine. Make sure you wipe the
razor clean before you switch to clean material.