Hey guys,
I'm supposed to get some Cr0 and a nice paddle for christmas...Does it really make a difference coming off a swaty barber hone for example?
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Hey guys,
I'm supposed to get some Cr0 and a nice paddle for christmas...Does it really make a difference coming off a swaty barber hone for example?
Short answer, yes. You'll like the edge improvement/refinement off of most any hone/stone.
Chris L
right now I'm shaving after a yellow coticule with some water and an old belt for a strop hehe. I hope it will make a difference once I get a proper strop and the Cr0.
i never rule out the possibility of me being a crazy but i swear by a CrOx strop. my progression (from my lowest grit) is 1k, 4k, 8k (all nortons), to a 12k chinese and then the CrOx then the leather. if the blade isn't perfect but is sharp i just keep going back to the CrOx until the shave is smooth. for me results are everything so i really like the CrOx. i have thought about trying some diamond pastes in the future but for now it isn't broken so i won't fix it. ha!
Do you find that the edge doesn't last as long off the Cr0? I've heard that it produces a great edge but doesn't really go well with stones...
I have not found this to be the case (chrome ox used on edges that have previously been honed on stones/hones rather than pastes degrading sooner than hones with no chrome ox).
When the edges DO finally need a touch up, 25-50 passes on a chromed paddle (I don't like chrome ox on hanging strops, others do) and....ZINGO you're back in business.
Chris L
I use a hanging strop and not a paddle strop.
I find that Cr Ox can reduce the life of honed razor significantly.
I'm not saying that that matters so much, because the comfort may be more important then the time span.
The reason many of us keep searching for the elusive perfect hone is to overcome this issue.
It takes a large investment in time and money to find hones that overcome the need for Cr Ox. The easy solution to a really smooth straight shave is Cr Ox. The trick is to not over hone with the material. Five light passes on a leather or even newspaper covered with the Cr Ox paste is usually sufficient to achieve the smoothness without reducing the edges life.
I really like the edge off of CrOx. It makes the edge sharper (good for freshening up your razors) and also produces a more comfortable shave. I couldn't tell you if the edge produced lasts for fewer shaves than one off of a stone, but I can say that it lasts long enough. By that I mean that I get quite a few shaves out of my razors before they need a tune up,so I really don't care if the CrOx has shortened the interval between them or not. If nothing else, I enjoy playing around with my razors and it puts another tweak in the toolbox.:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Dups
I think there is a difference in views of how long an edge should last.
Most of my razors will last a good month of daily shaves sometimes longer.
However if I use Cr Ox the razor can loose its edge within a week. If I am heavy handed on the Cr Ox the edge will only last three days.
I'm using darn near the same setup.Quote:
Originally Posted by chee16
Just for S's&G's I tried skipping CrO step on one of my favorite razors last weekend. The resulting shave? :td
"You don't know what you've got till it's gone"
Thanks for the great replies guys! I must have absolutely no talent at this whole honing thing! I've been trying to get my Frederick Reynolds ready for 2 days now and I'm still struggling:gaah:
The only way I got my razor close to shave ready was by using some 3M Automotive sand paper 2000. I then moved to the 8k side of my norton and then the yellow coticule with water and finished off with a barber hone and some shaving cream on it.
The shave was 'Okay' I guess but I'm sure it could have been better.
I then made the mistake of trying to use the 4k side of my norton 4k/8k to get it to a better point.
After going at this for about an hour on the 4k. The shaver is still crap.
Why is it so easy with the automotive sandpaper...
I'd like to be able to use the 4k side of my Norton...It gets pretty expensive and inconvenient having to change the sandpaper every 10-15 strokes.
The 4k side is just so rough and bumpy...:( (and yes I've lapped the stone)
HELP plz!
My Norton 4/8 works fine now, but I had to lap at least an eighth of an inch off of the 4000 side to get rid of the bumpy, granular surface of the stone when it was factory fresh. It really felt rough when honing (and I messed up a couple of edges) so I just kept on lapping it until it felt smoother. I thought I was nuts or had a bad stone until Lynn told me that he does the same thing. I felt better after that, and so does my Norton.:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Dups
I can offer two suggestions:
1) I would regard going from a coticule with water to a barber hone as a step backward. Even with lather, even if it's a Swaty 3 line or a Perfect brand hone.
2) If your edge was "close", I wouldn't drop down to the 4k but would spend more time on the 8k or the coticule. Of course I've never adopted the pyramid approach, so I don't know if you were intending on doing a pyramid 4k/8k honing technique?
Chris L
Hi Christ,
My approach was to try to replicate the results from the sandpaper using my 4k/8k stone.
I didn't buy the hone to only use the 8k side heh.
So what kind of grit would a yellow coticule with water be equal to?
Thanks Bill! My hone is not very old. It was only used for about 2-3 times before I got it. Maybe going hard at it with my Norton lapping stone would help..
i don't own a barbers hone but that is what i thought too when i read it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris L
+1 on the norton 4k side working great.
my suggestion is lap it more, if your using paper use a brush to make sure no grit gets imbedded. after that i got nothin :rolleyes:
I'm using a Norton lapping stone..Would that work as well?
I got the stone pretty nice after some long time lapping it...still no good result though...the sound is much better no more real grinding but just can't get it sharp enough..
Is it possible that it's just not possible (well without spending a week) to hone it without going to a lower grit like some 3m sandpaper
Hey Chris, you just got promotion! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Dups