Thread: Problems with pasted paddles

I have a two-sided leather paddle strop from Tony that I've pasted up with 1 micron and .5 micron diamond paste.

The strop itself is great, as are all of Tony's strops, but I haven't had any luck using it to improve my edges.

I use a Norton 4/8K, and straight off the hone I get a smooth, hanging hair test sharp edge. The razors shave well, but I'd like to see just how sharp I can get them with pastes.

When I first got the strop, I followed Tony's directions and rubbed in dabs of paste all over the surface, shooting for about 80 percent coverage. I don't think I put too much on, since I was trying to use as little as possible.

Using this on my razors didn't seem to help. In fact, they seemed overhoned after only a few strokes.

I then followed Lynn's directions on his DVD, putting a generous amount of paste on the strop and rubbing it around to make an even coat. This also produced dull or overhoned edges. I quickly decided that I had too much paste on the strop, so I used a damp paper towel to remove a lot of the paste.

After all this, the strop still doesn't seem to improve my edges. I'm trying to use really, really light pressure on it, and I'm starting to wonder if that isn't the problem. Should I be using just a tiny dab of pressure?

It almost seems like whatever I'm doing now is rounding the edge. I can't see how, since I'm not doing anything dumb like rolling the razor on its edge or anything.

Any suggestions?

Pasted paddles are supposed to be almost idiot proof, so you can imagin how I feel.

Thanks,
Josh

Beats me - I haven't seen this behavior before. I usually do about 20 laps on the Cr2O3 coming off the 8k and get a definite improvement.

Are you going from the 8k to the 1 micron then the .5 micron? That may be the culprit, you can go from the 8k straight to the .5 micron just fine - the 1 micron diamond is about 15k grit or so but it's very fast and aggressive.

How many laps are you doing? I should think between 10-20 on each side as you describe should be fine. What razor(s) are we talking about? SS might be tougher with Diamond paste. Is this a 3" or 2½"? If the latter (or even the former if you are using the standard X stropping motion, you might be ruining the edge on the edge of the strop.

X

Josh,

Normally coming off the 8K side of the Norton, I will typically go to my Escher stone and in most cases, I need to go no further. My recommendation would be that if needed, go to the .5 micron paste, strop for no more than 10 light strokes and then test shave. Tis up to you to go from .5 to .25, but in either case I really never go more than 10 light strokes. I always some excess paste when I start with a new pasting, but then I don't repaste for quite some time and quite a few razors. There are other times, where I might just to to a flat bed hone and give 10 strokes on the green paste. Every razor takes to pasting differently. In some cases, the diamond paste will either micro chip an edge out or cause little dimples. Sometimes the razor will shave really great with the little dimples.

I'm sure you'll find something that will work for you.

Lynn

I've also found the Cr2O3 to be more forgiving than the diamond paste - as I said it's really aggressive. It caused microchipping on my Wacker - I finally solved my Wacker problem with a Tam O'Shanter followed by Cr2O3 on wood.

TI's love diamond paste though. I mean like *really* love it.

I'll second the recommendation to go with Chromium Oxide. It's gentler and also leaves a smoother edge than its diamond equivalent.

The chromium oxide is developing quite a vocal following around here, and I think I'll have to give it a try.

I've tried both using the 1 micron paste and skipping it and going right to the .5. The edge was definitely worse with the 1 micron, but it's been a while since I tried that. At the time I was trying to use the paddle to "force" the razor to the next sharpness level. That consistently gave me excellent wire edges.

I've done several different combinations of laps. My latest attempt was just 10 or 20 light strokes on the .5. The edge seems very sharp but doesn't shave well, so I'm guessing it's overhoned. It shaved pretty well off the 8K, so it has to be the pastes.

The strop is a 2.5 inch width, so there's a chance I'm wrecking the edge on the edge of the strop. I hadn't thought of that. (I haven't had any luck with my barber hones, either, and that may be the reason.)

I think I'm going to try laying the paddle flat and using it like a bench hone. I don't have any issues with my Norton, so immitating the same motion might help.

Is there a way to smooth the edges of the strop so I'm less likely to wreck my edge? Has anyone else found this necessary?

Lynn, thanks for your reply. I wanted to thank you for making your DVD. Watching you hone and copying your form, i.e. sitting, keeping your elbow raised, made a world of difference in my honing. I was honing standing up and stroking side to side, but it was hard for me to control. I'm popping hairs off the 8K every time now.

Josh

Tony already tapers his edges a bit, so that shouldn't be an issue. If you still find them a bit too high, take a hard object like a Zippo lighter and run it along the edge of the leather at a 45 degree angle with a good amount of pressure.

Thanks Josh.

You just made another great point. When I use pastes on a flat bed leather hone vs. a paddle, it is always flat against the table. I didn't realize you were holding the paddle strop up at an angle. I'm betting that it being flat will improve your results.

Lynn

Well, tonight I worked on two razors that I'm going to try out in the morning. I finished both with about 20 strokes on the .5 micron after the Norton 8K. The flat back-honing motion seemed to help.

I'm a little worried about one, which is an eBay special that I'm just getting up to par. It seemed to have a wire edge that I couldn't quite get off with the Norton. I think the first 10 laps on the pasted paddle knocked off the wire, because the edge took a definite step backwards on the hanging hair test. It was popping hairs cleanly off the Norton, although I thought I could detect a small wire with my microscope.

After the first few laps on the paddle, it was pinging the hairs--I could feel it tug. Then the cutting action smoothed out again. I'm very suspicious of it, though.

I'll let you know how things go tomorrow morning.

Josh