Thread: Question on pastes.

I have some polishing pastes from Maas and Semichrome paste from GHE and am wondering if I can use these to refresh my razor. Any information would be greatly appreciated, Thanks.

I do not believe so. They are strictly for polishing the metal. I use Theirs Issard strop paste from The Art of Shaving on the canvas strop. One tube will last many many years.
During the strop paste I refresh my edges with a 12k oil stone once or twice a year.

I’ve used MAAS to good effect, others have used simichrome, mothers etc. (a forum search should yield interesting results like this one http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ke-pt-2-a.html).

The problem with metal polishes is that they have a fairly wide spread particle size.

They can be used, but are not the best solution (tightly controlled CBN emulsions have worked best form me).

I would suggest trying whatever polish you have to see if you like it and then move to a better (i.e. more consistent size) paste if you want further refinement.
I started out using Autosol on the back of a cereal box, and then used MAAS on craft foam before ending up with a full progression of CBN.

If I use pastes, which does not happen often these days it is cerium oxide on felt as a first choice.

Depends on what you are trying to achieve. Paste can be used for many purposes, to add keenness, reduce keenness add comfort or to remove stria as part of a progression, Many roads to Rome.

I often use MAAS on a canvas strop to remove all the 12K stria from a bevel, then lay a new stria pattern on top of that, with whatever finishing stone I chose. Then modify that bevel with additional paste, for keenness or comfort.

Maas is too aggressive to shave off of, because of the random grit size and or grit shape as Dr D said. No-body is saying what is in that stuff.

I have tried, several other metal polishes, (most of the usual suspects), with the same result. Maas and Novus seem to be the finest, but still not shaveable for me.

As said cardboard is a great inexpensive substrate for experimenting with paste.

Interestingly, I too use a CBN progression, to finish on, it is fast and you have much more control of the grit size and performance. I strop on CBN daily, often without leather.