Thread: Consumer Alert: Chromium oxide bars, or not?

Originally Posted by CloseShave

Kelbro,

How did you spread it evenly? I bought a bar a while ago and tried to spread it evenly on the back of a strop. The results were uneven. I am curious to see how it perfoms.

Thanks

CloseShave,

There are a couple of good ways to do it: you can just do a crosshatch pattern down your strop, like this:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

and the results will be fine, or you can take an old knife and shave flecks off of the bar into a small bowl add a small touch of mineral oil, and microwave it for a few seconds at a time until it is pretty warm but bearable to touch. Then, using your finger, smash it, stir it, swirl it, or whatever you need to do to to make it into a homogenous mixture, like you would with a mortar and pestle. This should only take a few seconds.

Then with your already really green and messy finger, apply to the strop as Josh Earl shows in his Sticky on "how to paste a strop". It's located in either the Strops or Hones sections.

If you have a canvas strop, and you want to do the "pool table green" style, put two pieces of painters tape at the extremities of the section you want pasted, like this:

---------+-------------+---------

Then, take the crayon bar and liberally color the heck out of the inside section. Here's where it gets a little hairy - Get an iron with teflon coating on the face, and iron the crayon into the strop. It just melts right in, and hot wax doesn't stick to the teflon. Put an old towel covering your ironing board first, although it shouldn't go through the strop. After ironing, the strop will be really hot, and you can just apply the bar right to the places where it needs it. Since the strop is hot, it melts right in automatically. Keep ironing and applying until it is how you want it.

Let the strop cool, then remove the two pieces of painters tape. (you don't really need the tape, it just makes for very clean lines at the ends of the pasted section, and I think it looks nice. Might as well make it look nice, right? )

Now, take the spine of a kitchen knife, and do a stropping motion over the pasted area. Just the spine, now, ok? This will remove alot of stuff from the top of the strop. Wipe the knife, then keep doing it until you get pretty much nothing off of the strop. Now get a white cloth and rub the heck out of the strop, until you get hardly anything showing up on a clean section of cloth. Now there's not tons and tons on the top of the strop, but it is imbedded into it, and it should work pretty dang well. I've got two strops pasted, and one is very sparse and light, and the other done this way, and they work the same, and I think it looks nice.

Make sure you clean the surface of the iron profusely to ensure you don't iron green flecks into your white shirts!

Great work!

Thanks for sharing this

Thanks to Kelbro and Ben for the instructions.

That stick of mixed Cro/AlO is meant for application to a rotating buffing wheel (cotton or linen) and is meant for polishing steel. I don't think it's intended use is for honing razors. I use a number of different sticks like it when polishing knives and razors but not for sharpening. My buffer is a double ended industrial buffer rotating at 3450 rpms.

But that information on the MSDS sheet really begs the question. Why use CrO at all? I hate the stuff. Rue the day when I wasted a good piece of leather on it. Folks tell me that it degrades the edge that comes off of a coticule or escher or Shapton.

Originally Posted by Howard

That stick of mixed Cro/AlO is meant for application to a rotating buffing wheel (cotton or linen) and is meant for polishing steel. Lee Valley Tools sells bars with paddle strops as a kit..... Leather Hand Strops - Lee Valley Tools I don't think it's intended use is for honing razors. I use a number of different sticks like it when polishing knives and razors but not for sharpening. My buffer is a double ended industrial buffer rotating at 3450 rpms.

But that information on the MSDS sheet really begs the question. Why use CrO at all? I hate the stuff. Rue the day when I wasted a good piece of leather on it. Folks tell me that it degrades the edge that comes off of a coticule or escher or Shapton.Folks tell me all sorts of stuff, but I don't always believe them. (FOX news) What does your face tell you? If the chromium oxide is used in a way that rounds the ege, then I agree, it can degrade an edge. But, used properly, I don't think it's gonna hurt. YMMV.

I do agree that the edge off of a coticule, escher, chinese 12k etc doesn't leave much to want, if the honing technique is proper.

(p.s., Howard, I don't intend to imply that you are gullible and believe everything that people tell you - I'm just making a lighthearted jab at FOX news. No offense intended, friend!)

Originally Posted by Howard

Folks tell me that it degrades the edge that comes off of a coticule or escher or Shapton.

That's really odd, Howard. I have used Chrome Ox in many ways (balsa, newspaper and leather as media and I have not found that at all. 16K Shapton with finishing on some chrome ox rubbed newspaper:.....mmmmmmmmm good. It's one of the proverbial icings on the cake. Also, for quick touch ups to an edge when I don't want to head down to the basement to a polishing stone, the strip of balsa I keep in my medicine cabinet with chrome ox on it still takes first place as my favorite edge refresher. 25-50 passes on it every few weeks, and I swear it seems at this point that I could keep an edge going for a year+.

I will say that I no longer use the red latigo hanging strop that I rubbed dry chrome ox powder into. It has nothing to do with the strop or type of leather, I don't like chrome ox on a hanging strop. I've felt that it's rounded edges for me. Flat paddles with chrome ox are the bee's knees in my book.

Chris L

I'm with Chris L on this one. I get great shaves off my Coticule or my Shapton 16K but the results are improved with Chrome ox on a perfectly flat leather bench strop and I'll rarely skip the Chrome Ox unless I'm in a rush. This stuff does cut fast and unless you do it well, it IS easy to do more harm than good. I have used a pasted hanging strop, but like Chris L, I prefer a firm bench or paddle strop.

Regards

Christian

You can believe what people tell you , or you can choose to believe what actually works. I go with whatever gets the results, "approved" or not.


Tony

Originally Posted by kaptain_zero

I'm with Chris L on this one. I get great shaves off my Coticule or my Shapton 16K but the results are improved with Chrome ox on a perfectly flat leather bench strop and I'll rarely skip the Chrome Ox unless I'm in a rush. This stuff does cut fast and unless you do it well, it IS easy to do more harm than good. I have used a pasted hanging strop, but like Chris L, I prefer a firm bench or paddle strop.

Regards

Christian

Yeah me 2 on the efficacy of Crom Ox. I always say the stuff is like magic. I will hone an ebay razor (they keep coming in the mail) and test shave. After the first pass if it isn't comfortable I will go to a Hand American felt impregnated with the green stuff on a flat bed base or to the Crom Ox on a Livi loom strop. This will always improve the second pass. I don't like to use the pastes first as I want to see how sharp I can get the razor off of the various hones without them but I am glad to have the Crom ox and the diamond pastes when I want to use them.

Ben, you've really gone to a lot a effort. Your efforts are amazing.

I can't help but feel it was my own fault for buying it though.

Originally Posted by Ben325e

Beware of other chromium oxide bars, however, as they are often mixed with larger particle carriers/abraisives.

If I were buying some right now, I'd buy it from Dave Martell at Japaneseknifesharpening.com. He's a great guy, and very active on the kitchen section of Knifeforums.com. He's one of very few retailers of Hand American products, and seems to carry more of their stuff than anyone else. The "liquid" chromium oxide is what I would get.

Find it here: JapaneseKnifeSharpening.com

Ben