Thread: Cr0..Does it really make a difference

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.

Originally Posted by Dups

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 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.

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.

Originally Posted by chee16

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!

I'm using darn near the same setup.

Just for S's&G's I tried skipping CrO step on one of my favorite razors last weekend. The resulting shave?

"You don't know what you've got till it's gone"