Thread: CrOx....Necessary?

Not necessary, nor the only option for pasting a strop, but it's a nice followup in my experience. I've accepted pasted stropping as an addition to my honing--but reluctantly. Unlike honing, pasted stropping does slightly change the bevel of your shaving edge, and eventually you need to go back to the stones. That's not why I've been reluctant, though... I've wanted to get that level of edge from my hones alone. But I've yet to hone out an edge that five passes on CrOx couldn't improve, and I've let that reality override idealism.

As your technique improves you'll also develop a better sense of what to expect of a blade. I expect my own to remove whiskers as easily as they scrape off lather. When one starts to fail at that I'll touch it up on something, either a pasted strop or a fine hone.

Best wishes.