Thread: The green stuff

I was just wondering if green jewelers rouge is the same stuff as the chromium oxide that's use on benchhones/strops? If not, are they similar? and what makes them different?

I believe they are the same, and wikipedia suggest this is the case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouge

White yellow and black sound interesting, however my results with aluminium oxide (Alox) at 0.3 micron level as on the 3M lapping films, suggest to me that it doesn't give as fine a polish as green rouge (Cr3O2). I think this is due to particle shape and fracturing properties of the abrasives.

Keep in mind that every rouge even of the same type can be different. If you go into a jewelry supply store you can find a huge block of red rouge for instance for five bucks and you can buy specialty french rouges for twenty bucks for a smaller block. They all come in differing qualities. Also, sometimes rouges are colored for identification and they don't relate to what they are comprised from. I have an assortment of rouges which are every color of the rainbow from yellow and white to blue.

Having said all this, in general green will be chromium but only if its dark green if its light green it might be something else or it might be a mixture of things. Clear as mud?

Okay. I was just wondering because I just got a block of green (dark green) jewelers rouge along with some other stuff from widgetsupply.com. I haven't tried it yet, but was wondering if perhaps I could use it on some sort of paddle strop or bench hone. Actually, I think I have some balsa lieing around somewhere I could try it on too.

I used a mix made by crushing a hard block of rouge (koyo sha) in some mineral oil. I tested it on good quality paper first.

Originally Posted by ToxIk

Okay. I was just wondering because I just got a block of green (dark green) jewelers rouge along with some other stuff from widgetsupply.com. I haven't tried it yet, but was wondering if perhaps I could use it on some sort of paddle strop or bench hone. Actually, I think I have some balsa lieing around somewhere I could try it on too.

If the mfg of the green stuff is Formax Mfg then it is a coarse size of chrome oxide with particle sizes of up to 6 micron's.

Woodcraft sells .5 micron chromium oxide in stick form for $21.00 http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=3112

Should last a couple of lifetimes used with razors.

Miles

The rouge I bought is just some no name stuff. Here's the link. I bought it to use for polishing, but was just wondering if it would be any good for honing too. I think I have enough balsa around that I could just give it a go though