Thread: CrOx....Necessary?

Originally Posted by smalltank

I still have my Cr0x paste in my droor..never use it since my coti does great touch ups

Wow, you're lucky to have such a good coti!

IMO all coticules are nearly same. when you reach its limits no need for pastes.

That can be said about a lot of stone. No *need* for pastes, but in my experience chromium oxide powder will improve the sharpness of the edge off of any and every stone if used properly.

To me, it is one of the hard lessons learned when spending gobs of money looking for fabulous stones - none of mine creates an edge that is as keen as a graded chromium oxide powder finish on a firm (but not too hard) surface like balsa.

But all of the natural stones that are designated fine (including coticules) can certainly make and maintain an edge that is sharp enough to shave.

I do think a lot of us are chasing around fallacies thinking that there is something superior about the shaving edge off of natural stones vs. very fine powders (which also create a reasonably soft edge, but more keen). More interesting than powders? Certainly. Dominantly better for shaving? I doubt it. My personal opinion.

most staright shaver/honers will try some paste at some point...I don't think you can go wrong with crox... as with most honers , you get to a point where you will try and acheive the max from yours stones..some will say if you get te max from stones you will not need finishing paste some will use it regardlessly as the honing pattern .... i have tryed most paste and sprays and i think crox as been one of the most helpful paste i have tryed except ti white paste .. for over all and all round one paste you won't go far wrong with crox to aid your honing.... like some i like the idea of shaving staright of the coticule and i have become quite satisfied with coticule and my strop... there was one time when i'd never be with out . So i think you should get some ... i like it best on a leather hanging strop cotton or leather ...

Originally Posted by gary haywood

most staright shaver/honers will try some paste at some point...I don't think you can go wrong with crox... as with most honers , you get to a point where you will try and acheive the max from yours stones..some will say if you get te max from stones you will not need finishing paste some will use it regardlessly as the honing pattern .... i have tryed most paste and sprays and i think crox as been one of the most helpful paste i have tryed except ti white paste .. for over all and all round one paste you won't go far wrong with crox to aid your honing.... like some i like the idea of shaving staright of the coticule and i have become quite satisfied with coticule and my strop... there was one time when i'd never be with out . So i think you should get some ... i like it best on a leather hanging strop cotton or leather ...

I got into a phase where I really wanted to be able to maximize the edge with my finishing stones, coticule or escher. I finally got there. I have nothing against someone using paste. For me personally to pay hundreds of dollars for a rare and exotic finishing stone ..... only to come off it and instead of appreciating the edge from the rare jewel ..... strop it on $0.50 worth of paste doesn't make sense. YMMV.

i no exactly what you mean .. the times i have finished with paste and started again on the stone .. just to see if i can get tan edge just as nice of my coticule ... there is no dout it can be done .. i also like the idea of grabbing my little 4x2 coticule and using the stone as apose a pasted strop.. just what i prefer nower days .. that way my favourite stones get used ...

gary

I too use sometimes a chromium oxide paste at the end of honing. It doesn't hurt and sometimes the edge gets even better and smoother.
I also use a Chinese stone at the end of the honing process and I find this to give even better results than chromium oxide paste.
As for touching up a blade, I use either the Chinese stone or the Swaty hone.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I got into a phase where I really wanted to be able to maximize the edge with my finishing stones, coticule or escher. I finally got there. I have nothing against someone using paste. For me personally to pay hundreds of dollars for a rare and exotic finishing stone ..... only to come off it and instead of appreciating the edge from the rare jewel ..... strop it on $0.50 worth of paste doesn't make sense. YMMV.

I haven't used paste, but I've used the powder on a balsa strop.

I get into modes (and am in one now) where I will try to maximize what I get from my stones and bare horse leather.

But it is an experimenting and screwing around kind of thing (along with attempting to justify to myself why I have dozens of stones), and in the end, the edge that I get with pure chromium oxide powder (not waxy sticks, etc) is still sharper and plenty smooth to shave.

I can say this logically, that I get that pure edge every single time with every single razor with the chromium oxide stone, and it's generally a better edge if you set up metrics to decide what's "better"...

.. but I still usually use the stones and nothing else but leather.

After 5 shaves, my edges are the same either way. With the natural stones, off the stone, they generally improve the first few shaves as the horse leather makes them better and better. With chromium oxide, they instead start better and come down to that point at 5 shaves. Whatever is used, after that, they stay very nice for a very long time, so not being the type who runs back and re-keens an edge once a week, it doesn't make too much difference.

Rational, no - especially not money-wise. Will I tell other people they're irrational for spending a lot of money on expensive stones to chase something that's mostly in our heads compared to selected modern abrasives? Yes. Will I do the same irrational thing? Most of the time, yes.