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

A bit of background: I started honing my own SRs in early July. I have 7 regular razors in rotation. This post is really a follow-up to another thread I started -- The Minimal Honing Kit. In case you have not read that thread I hone with Naniwa stones -- 1, 3, 8, and 12k. I strop with newspaper and leather. I have been successful in achieving a very keen edge with this minimal kit.

I read a lot about pasted strops as a means to extend the life of an edge. My question: is this really necessary? Does a minimal honing/stropping kit really require pasted strops to maintain an edge? I have found my edges to be long lasting with only stropping on newspaper and leather. If and, more likely, when I need to touch up I will put it back on the 12k stone to refresh the edge.

I use a pasted strop every shave (currently 0.25 micron CBN) because I get a keener and smother edge using the CBN after either the 12k naniwa or my shobudani with tomo slurry (this may change with practice as the 3 edges I’ve gotten of the shoubi have been very close to the CBN).

It is also a matter of convenience, 20 laps on the pasted paddle before a shave and I’m good to go, no linen, no leather, no strops hanging around to temp little hands and if I travel with a straight, the paddle packs easily.

As for edge longevity, I’ve kept a razor going for 12 months @ 4-5 shaves a week using this routine with no degradation in the edge. It only went back to the hones to see if, with practice, I could get a better edge out of it.

@whizbang:

The ink in newspaper is slightly abrasive, such that I would considered newspaper to be a pasted strop (i.e. a paper strop “pasted” with ink)

I finish with pasted strops- 1 micron diamond followed by chromium oxide. This produces better edges and shaves than I can get from just a finishing stone.

I have had no luck with a pasted strop...edges are worse...go figure. Been using the felted wool strop with diamond spray on one side and the green stuff on the other side....haven't touched them in years.

Stone and Steel ,,,,,,,

I don't use pasted strops often, only when I'm lazy and I want to use a particular razor.

I saw a post on the "Griffon Strop Aide", which is essentially a lead bar that treats the cloth part of the strop, or the leather, by imbedding lead into the strop.

I mentioned it, was Tom (aka Sharptonn) who was the OP, big thread followed, and he sent around some cloth strops and some lead bars that he had prepared, just rub the lead bar into the cloth part of the strop, takes a few times to really get it in there, and believe it or not, it really brings the edge back quite nicely.

Obviously prior to shaving you rinse the blade, but it's very old school, and frankly, it's old school because it works.

One of the other aspects of using the lead strop which is a side benefit, you want your razor polished up nice and shiny? All the soap residue, water spots etc., that can build up - a few laps on the lead strop and they're gone.

When I refresh a razor, to then go to paste IMO just cancels the last stone you've used, and if you're finishing on a Coti, J-Nat, or Escher, you're essentially not experiencing the stone, but the paste. The lead strop just nicely polishes and mellows the razor, and if you need a refresh, I find the results vastly superior to Crox or Diamond.

Just my opinion...whatever floats yer boat....

For me, it's whatever the razor needs. I used to use crox all the time, now hardly ever, but on occasion I use a hard bench strop made from tightly woven wool and crox for 5 or 6 round trips to polish the razor up and remove any straggling wire hair and then back on my Jnat for another 10 very light passes. I've found it necessary on 2 razors I own out of 30+ so far.

In the past, I used crox all the time, and it was my favored touch up tool. However, after reading all these accounts of shaving without using a pasted strop, I kept at it on my hones until I started getting great shaves without the pasted strop and I do that today... Except for those 2 razors that won't play nice. In fact, one of them would not hone properly on my Jnats... it was sharp, but not as uber sharp as I prefer. I stayed with it for hundreds and hundreds of laps, but no go. Then one day, just before I was going to give up, I thought, why not give it a few laps on a Shapton 16K for giggles. Sure enough, that got the edge up where I wanted it.... but it was a tad.... uhm..... hard to describe, but it just didn't glide through the beard the way I like it.... 5 laps on hard wool/crox, 10 super lite laps on my big Jnat and I was in shaving heaven....

I found that for me, reading a translation of "Honing Razors and Nihonkamisori" By Kousuke Iwasaki, was both interesting and helped me a lot in my search for the ultimate edge. It's still a work in progress, but I *am* making progress... in fact my old edges aren't good enough anymore..... <sob>

In the end, it's about a close comfortable shave... I really don't care how I get there, whatever it takes is what it is.


Regards

Christian

Originally Posted by Phrank

...........I saw a post on the "Griffon Strop Aide", which is essentially a lead bar that treats the cloth part of the strop, or the leather, by imbedding lead into the strop.

I mentioned it, was Tom (aka Sharptonn) who was the OP, big thread followed, and he sent around some cloth strops and some lead bars that he had prepared, just rub the lead bar into the cloth part of the strop, takes a few times to really get it in there, and believe it or not, it really brings the edge back quite nicely.

Obviously prior to shaving you rinse the blade, but it's very old school, and frankly, it's old school because it works.

One of the other aspects of using the lead strop which is a side benefit, you want your razor polished up nice and shiny? All the soap residue, water spots etc., that can build up - a few laps on the lead strop and they're gone.

When I refresh a razor, to then go to paste IMO just cancels the last stone you've used, and if you're finishing on a Coti, J-Nat, or Escher, you're essentially not experiencing the stone, but the paste. The lead strop just nicely polishes and mellows the razor, and if you need a refresh, I find the results vastly superior to Crox or Diamond.

Just my opinion...whatever floats yer boat....

I'm with Phrank! I've been using a 'lead bar' on a linen strop for 3 years now as part of my stropping routine and I honestly have not had to go back to a stone on any razor since. It really works!

Here is a link if your interested:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...-pictures.html

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.