Thread: Learned the hard way

So I picked up some buffing compound the other day for a strop compound. I got the compounds from Princess Auto (a discount workshop and wholesale store in Winnipeg) and they have worked to my knowledge without and major damage (once I got the appropriate amounts on the strop). I got a white and a green one that I use. The white (Diamond) is supposed to provide some cut and a little polish, and the green is supposed to have minimal cut and more polish.

The key in here is the "once I got the appropriate amount on the strop." I first loaded up the strop, felt a little waxy but flat. I couldn't feel any built up areas or anything, but my blade sure did. After a few laps on the white, then green, then just on the webbing then leather I did an arm hair test and sure enough it was nicely refreshed and keen. I didn't take a close look at the edge cause, hey, it felt sharp and good.

The next day I did a quick stropping on the green then clean webbing and leather. Before I took the blade to my face I looked at the edge and saw little chucks of wax on the edge of the blade. I picked them off, ran a few more laps on the leather and completed the shave. It shaved fine, but there were some small areas of irritation during the shave. When I was done and stropped again before packing it all up I looked at the edge and I saw why I was irritated. There were little nicks in the edge. Nothing crazy big, but big enough for me to see without any magnification.

After a quick re-hone the blade is fine. But I found out that I sure did have too much compound on the strop. Took a paint scraper to the webbing and got out the excess. With hesitation I tried it again and checked the edge. No more issues.

Anyone else have a similar experience? What did you do and how did you fix it?

(BTW I shaved with it this morning, no more nicks, no more irritation, my keen edge is back!)

In general less is more when it comes to loading strops.

You want to be careful with compounds and buy what you know it contains and is pure and consistent. Diamond especially comes in different mesh sizes and you pay for the consistent makeup of the material you buy.

Yea, those compounds are way too aggressive for straight razors and will chip the edge.

Buy razor quality paste, they are not that expensive but are completely different in formulation and performance.

If you did not clean the razor well, you probably pasted you leather strop. It can never be completely removed.

I don't think it was the compound. Chipping isn't a result of edge trailing strokes on hanging mesh/leather. If anything, you could have over stropped on the compound and built up a huge foil edge. Stropping on the leather could have broke off this foil edge unevenly, leaving "flats", but I doubt these features are visible to the naked eye as you noted.

Originally Posted by Fruiteater

I don't think it was the compound. Chipping isn't a result of edge trailing strokes on hanging mesh/leather.

Really? I certainly have seen chipping after stropping on diamond compound.