Thread: To Paste or not to paste...that is the question

Your just a Strop-A-Holic Sharptonn !!!

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Your just a Strop-A-Holic Sharptonn !!!

My Name is Sharptonn. I am a Stropoholic!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

My Name is Sharptonn. I am a Stropoholic!

Praise the Lord...Testify Tom!

Halleluja!



Pics to come, I reckon..

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Or...Perhaps the honer AND the stropper! Stropee? He who strops?
I just love to strop. Best time spent in this endeavour, IMO!

Too true, you could be the best honer in the world and ruin an edge with improper stropping.

Interesting discussion...thank you. I learned something new and that is always a bonus. Despite the positive votes in favour of pastes...I think for now I will keep my minimum honing kit: 1, 3, 8, 12k Naniwa stones with a newspaper strop and a leather board strop. I can get a super-duper keen edge with this combination and in my view there is no need to add anything new. Just more clutter for my already overcrowded den. As others have noted so eloquently, good tools are necessary, but good technique is paramount. As for whether newspaper ink is "paste"...well, that will have to be debated in another thread. I will also avoid the lead idea...just too toxic for my liking. Thanks everyone. Great discussion.

I use a pasted felt (CrO or diamond) strop sometimes but not to finish razors.

I use it at the point where others might joint the edge on a glass or stone. It goes against the grain for me to make something blunt that you are trying to sharpen, even slightly. Stropping an edge is at least keeping things going in the same direction in my mind but mostly any burrs or microchips get dealt with on the next stone in the progression.

I have to admit as my honing got better the paste was much less used for the finishing process. When I was using lower grit stones I used crox for final treatment. On occasion if I find a razor getting a bit dull I have a small leather loom strop with crox dedicated to bringing it back to life. I also have some of my cotton strops loaded with Dovo White paste and I use those regularly. The Dovo white doesn't abrade steel as far as I can tell but seems to add a little smoothness to the blade and at the very least makes those bumpy canvas strops feel better to use. These days due to the higher grit finishers 12/20k used in my set up, I don't bother with the crox paste at all. My opinion about the Crox edge is fine I never found it to be a put off or anything like that if used in moderation. Too many laps on a Crox pasted strop can make for a bitey somewhat uncomfortable edge that seems to irritate certain parts of my face. So that's my take on its use for me.