Thread: How much improvement can I get with chromium oxide?

Hello everyone, I own two straight razors, both were manufactured from DOVO, one is a bismarck, which I bought from Lynn at SRD, therefore it was pre-honed. The other razor is a dovo flowing, which came in the sealed box (I got the bismarck later than the flowing). So I had been shaving with the flowing very nicely since I got the bismarck pre-honed, and there's a notable difference between the shaves from the pre-honed razor. What I did was 10 x strokes on the naniwa 12k with my dovo flowing (I chose to go straight to a finishing stone because the edge wasn't so bad, it was passing the hanging hair test, as well it was shaving arm hairs midway) and It did improve, but didn't achieve the same level of sharpness as the bismarck, so, finally, my question is: what will a webbed fabric strop with chromium oxide do to that razor? I mean, how much can the edge improve from a stropping with the ChOx?

Sorry for the long post, have a nice day!

You are trying to match the edge Lynn put on a razor ? This may take some practice and I would first find out what progression he used . You may be skipping a step or 2 by just going 12k C/O.

Try it and see, the best way to learn is to play around.

I wouldn't count on CROX to improve "sharpness", that comes from the mid and fine grit hones. The finishing hones and especially the crox improve the edge by polishing it and therefore improving the feel.

I'm really not trying to achieve the same edge that Lynn did, after all it has been only 4 months since I started shaving with a straight razor. The main thing I was going for with this post was to get an answer for this question: How much improvement can a strop with chromium oxide do on the edge of a blade that straight out of the box passed the hanging hair test, cut arm hairs midway also, and has been polished on a naniwa 12k with 10 x strokes? Hopefully the ChOx can get me close as possible to an edge set by Lynn.

Lemur, I don't have the Chromium Oxide yet, that's why I wanted to clear this doubt, to decide wether I buy it or not, so there's no way to try to see what happens, thanks a lot for the attention anyway.

As far as I can tell, Cro-ox makes a slight but noticeable improvement after 12k.

The above only applies IF the razor is properly honed up to that point.

Without seeing the blade I would say to try it. You won't regret buying a pasted strop anyway. If it still doesn't shave well then send it out.

Michael

Pastes can do a lot, but if you use it to finish an edge that is not already shave ready you will deprive yourself of the opportunity to improve your honing. If your goal is to learn to get the most from your hones, use the past only to guild the lily or touch up the edge. If your goal is to just get the razor shave ready NOW, use the crox and get back to shaving.

Personally I fall into the get the most from the hones group. I would think that if 10 - 20 passes at 12k did not bring the edge back. Dropping down to 8k would be a good next step.

Jonathan

Originally Posted by WilliamDallaPorta

I'm really not trying to achieve the same edge that Lynn did, after all it has been only 4 months since I started shaving with a straight razor. The main thing I was going for with this post was to get an answer for this question: How much improvement can a strop with chromium oxide do on the edge of a blade that straight out of the box passed the hanging hair test, cut arm hairs midway also, and has been polished on a naniwa 12k with 10 x strokes? Hopefully the ChOx can get me close as possible to an edge set by Lynn.

Lemur, I don't have the Chromium Oxide yet, that's why I wanted to clear this doubt, to decide wether I buy it or not, so there's no way to try to see what happens, thanks a lot for the attention anyway.

Sorry I didn't mean to sound negative. In fact I would cheer you on to try and get that good. I was just thinking if you like that sharp ask how he did it and go for it. His hone job would be the goal your shooting for. More what I was trying to say is ,,, Lynn took a factory new and did XYZ to it. That's where you should start. As others here are saying CO will help improve an edge and may solve your problem but it may also be as I said , you will be skipping some steps. I have never had a new razor myself so if I get one it usually needs to start at 1k and go all the way. Which by the way is 1k, 4k, 8k, linen,strop. I get great shaves and know nothing past that point so I will shut up now.....

In my limited experience, it will be a slight but noticeable improvement in sharpness and smoothness if there's more to be had on that razor. I was advised to take a razor and hone it as good as I could then shave with it without stropping to see what the edge felt like for reference, then CrO3 and test shave again then strop and test shave again. I could tell a noticeable difference in sharpness and smoothness on the razors I've done this with. I noticed the least difference when I got a really good edge off the last stone (at the time I was doing this it was a Naniwa 12k or a Shapton 16k). When I did this off the Gokuyomo 20k, I didn't notice that much of a difference. I notice a difference when touching up as well. I won't test shave my razors off a finishing stone if they aren't passing my wife's HHT at a 4 because it hasn't proven worth while for me with the razors I have.

Thanks to all you guys that replied, I have a few more questions though. As I read the post of 10Pups I started wondering wether I should hone the razor which came in the sealed box (remembering it is a dovo, and most of them are not shave ready from the factory), I'm not sure if I should drop to the norton 4K - 8k -12k (naniwa), the reason I'm not sure it is because the razor doesn't perform a bad shave at all, it's just not good as the bismarck pre-honed. What do you guys think? And dropping down to the 4k to begin the progression wouldn't damage the edge that, in my opinion isn't so bad? What progression do you guys recomend if I chose to rehone the razor? Thanks to everybody.