Thread: barber hone or crox?

Hello I've been shaving with a sr for about 2 months now. Recently I've started to notice alot of tug and pull with my razor it started at first when i go atg but now its wtg. Monies a bit tight right now to buy another shave ready so i was thinking either a barber hone or a balsa strop pasted with crox. what would your opinions be on this? I know that most of you have tried both and I would like to know what you guys think.

I would vote for some chrom -ox on felt or leather. Might be fine on balsa but I've not tried chrom-ox on balsa. Just diamond paste. The barber hone is good too but more expensive and you have to get a good one. You can put chrom-ox on any piece of leather. Glue it on a piece of something reasonably flat. If it isn't enough, hunt for a barber hone.

Here's a recent thread that has some good info on crox with balsa. http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...alsa-crox.html

Regards,

Howard

I vote for CrOx on a block. You can sand a piece of balsa flat with sandpaper laid on a countertop or polished granite tile (which you can do in the sample aisle at any home improvement store; don't even need to buy the tile!) then put some CrOx on it. You can buy the CrOx-treated balsa from Larry at whippeddog.com, too. Might be cheaper than collecting the components; I don't know. I keep pastes on my paddle strop surfaces only; never on my hanging strops. That's just my preference; lots of people paste their hanging strops. I prefer keeping abrasives on more fixed surfaces.

They both have there place, but I would vote CrOx as well, it's cheap and effective. I would go to a Barber hone if the CrOx didn't help

The problem with hones are that you never know if it is going to be any good because of the age, and th grits vary... With CR0x you know exactly what you are working with....

I'm not really sure what it costs to have someone re-hone a razor but wanted to ensure you weren't thinking once it was dull it was no good. No need to buy another shave ready razor at all really. Now after saying that, I'll tell you I've not paid to have a razor rehoned, because I figured buying the hones was a long term investment worth it's weight.

Now to your question: Barber hone for 10-50 bucks=10-50 bucks you could have saved for a Norton 4/8 k waterstone.
Chrome ox for whatever the cost is regarded highly by many, but I've had zero luck with it in any capacity.
Rehoning for I think 20 bucks from one of the guys in the classifieds= money well spent, with the addendum that with a little research, you can find a few helpful souls that'll rehone it for the cost of shipping, which can be as low as $1.95 in my neck of the woods. I know you didn't ask about rehoning, but I just can't help myself it seems.

A Chinese 12k natural is a pretty cheap method of maintenance.

My vote is for CROX since you allready know how to strop, and its something you can use easily and cheap.