Thread: CrOx....Necessary?

Hey everyone, going to purchase a SRD honing here in a few minutes and drop my Dovo Astrale in the mail to Lynn tomorrow morning for honing as it is just factory "shave ready" right now and cannot pass the HH test. My question for you on pre-shave stroping is the necessity of CrOx? I guess I am asking this mainly because I do not fully understand yet what it does for me and my SR. My strop is a 3 inch Latigo with a poly strap in addition to the Latigo leather.

CrOx, whats it do, do you think I need it? Thanks!

IME if you have a razor that is sharp but harsh 10 round trips, weight of the blade, will smooth it out nicely and add keenness. It will also get a sharp edge sharper. I think it is meant to be used in moderation though. Real good tool to have in the toolbox IMO.

You ask a few loaded questions here (no pun intended ).

First of all, you should stop putting so much attention towards the Hanging Hair Test, it doesn't mean that much compared to the shave test. But since your razor has a factory edge you'd do well with an intial honing.

Chrome ox is a high grit equivalent stropping compound used for refining and/or sharpening an edge. Many use it after honing as they feel it imparts smoothness to an edge, while many others use it to touch up a dulling edge. It should be used sparingly and not be used every shave. If you feel your blade tugging and pulling it would be a good time to bust out the CrOx.

Do you NEED it? That's a highly subjective question. The answer is probably not, but in thus humble shaver's opinion everyone should have it in their honing arsenal.

Have fun!

Well, you are doing the right thing to send your razor to Lynn, but not because it doesn't pass the hht. Much has been written about the idiosyncrasies of the dreaded hanging hair...so I won't go into it here. Long and short....start with a razor known to be shave ready...... sending yours to Lynn is a good move.

CrOx is usually used to refine a freshly honed blade or to freshen up an edge that may have gone south. You will probably want to use it at some point, but for now working on the techniques needed to get a good shave should be front and center.

Thanks for the reply everyone. Always good to have people to go to for questions, SR shaving is obviously a learning curve that is greater then most out there and really looking forward to it. I will probably go ahead and order some CrOx from SRD just to have on hand then for down the road, cant hurt to have it for when I need it. For when I "do" use it, is CrOx something that you apply to the strop each time you use CrOx? or is it just a coating that you apply to the strop and when it runs out reapply?

You can get CrOx in many forms; powder, spray, paste or crayon. Which one you use will be influenced by the stropping material that you apply it to. One constant is that you want to apply it sparingly and infrequently. SRP has many threads on this topic, so check out them out.

When you contact SRD ask for a recommendation regarding matching up your strop with the right CrOx material.

If you can, try a modular strop with interchangeable stropping pads. That will give you max flexibility as you experiment with all the options to keep your razor in top condition.

Here is an oldie but goodie, pasting a strop by Josh Earl ....

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...-tutorial.html

Thanks Bill, This is the strop that I picked up, the material (leather and poly) are both interchangeable.
Premier Strop Co 3" Red Latigo with Handle | RoyalShave

For me, when a blade starts to pull I use 10-15 laps on a CrOx paddle, if that doesn't work I'll drop to a finishing hone or lower.

I have done my best to avoid using pasted strops but sooner or later I feel the need. CBN and CrOx are the only pastes I rely on save an occasional turn on the Dovo black. The fewer laps you need on a pasted strop, the better your honed edge is in the very first place IMO.

Learn to rely on a shave ready edge from the 8k stone and then 5 laps or so on CrOx or CBN. Should give you a nice and smooth shave. Finishing stones (12k+) are interesting, fun, expensive, but not necessary for a smooth shave. Any knowledgeable honer will have no trouble getting a perfectly acceptable shave from the 8k stone.

8k is my benchmark.

Jerry
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