Thread: chromium oxide bar?

is this the same stuff as the paste that I hear so much about?
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=3112
Thanks-
-Ryan

I also got one of this and found it hard to apply to leather or wood strop. Does it need some sort of solvant? Please help.
Tom Tong

did you try heating it

I use a little mink oil to dissolve mine and help it to spread out. Neatsfoot oil, lanolin or strop dressing would probably work equally well.

Most of the bars they sell are orientated for polishing so you just hit your wheel on the bar as you polish. They also sell the same stuff in a bottle as a straight powder. You can add water or oil to it to make it as viscous as you want and apply it evenly to a strop. I'm not a pasted strop user but I don't think I would use the bar on a strop.

boo... I heard that this stuff can have a particle size of up to 6 microns, so I did some more research, and it's mostly not even chromium oxide! According to the MSDS, it is up to 60% Alumina, only 20-30% Chromium Oxide, and the rest is animal fats and waxes...

I also have this same bar. I took an old cheese grater,don't take your wife's new grater, with tiny holes and grated a chunk into powder. I then added just enough mineral oil to make a paste and then I applied the paste to a leather strop I had as a back up. As a final polishing step in the honing process it has worked well for me. YMMV...I say try it and experiment. I did and it works well.

Raf

I used the green bar and find if i heat the strop with a blow dryer it spreads very easy

It's better to get powdered chromium oxide from H.A. and mix it with strop dressing. Been getting great results.

I just received a bar in the mail. It's like a stone. Any tips to make it pliable? Where I am it will be weeks before I can get any of the above mentioned products.
The rest of the tips I will keep in mind for when I return to the mother land. Thanks gentlemen.