Thread: chromium oxide

I'm confused about the role of chromium oxide. I've read that it is useful for putting the final polish on a freshly honed blade, but I've also read that it is useful for taking some of the edge off an overly sharp blade. These two things seem contradictory: does it sharpen or does it dull? And if you've got a razor that still shaves pretty well but is starting to lose its edge a bit, what should you use to touch it up: chromium oxide or diamond paste? And if you should use diamond paste should you use .25m or .5m?

Any words of enlightenment would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

CO will give a smoother edge than diamond paste but cuts slower. Diamond has, surprise, a diamond shaped crystal structure, lots of sharp edges. CO has a structure shaped like a soccer ball, so it will cut slower and leave a nice smooth edge. Usually when people say the edge is "too sharp" they really mean "to harsh". All the CO does in that case is smooth out the rough edges left from honing or diamond spray.

That being said, diamond comes in finer sprays (you can use Iron Oxide powder to get a similar size without the diamond stuff) and a lot of people use the diamond spray on felt with great results. I don't have any myself, but I am very happy with the results I have had using the CO powder.

Hi there,


well Chromium Oxide (in ~0.5µ) will be a very fine way to finish a razor.
What it does is polish at a very fine level and refine the edge you get from most stones.
It is a very strong cutting agent, for it´s fineness.

It will not dull your edge, unless you use it improperly.
There is no way, you actually *want* to dull a razor.

Sometimes it happens that you get uneveness in the edge comming of a stone.
This can be caused by improper honing.
Chromium oxide (like most other stropping compounds) can undo minor honing flaws.

This is - I blelieve- because of the fact that the cutting agent attacks the edge in a totally different way.

This means: Sometimes when I come from the coticule, I do not get proper HHT. This has nothing to do with the stone or the razor,
it´s just my honing. But regardless of this, when I hit Cr2O3 they all shave mighty fine, and I get full HHT instantly even though I obviuosly wasn´t done on the coticule.

Wich stropping compund you like best, Cr2O3 or Diamond is totally up to you. I use both (Diamond in 0.5) alternating. There aint much of a difference.
Only very skilled shavers will see the difference,
but both works fine!