Thread: Pasted strop questions.

So, I went ahead and ordered some .25 Micron CBN from CKTG. I've got a piece of stand alone Poly Webbing from SRD that I use with SRD spray on Chrome Ox. Can I just paste the back of that with the CBN, or would there be concern that the paste could leech through the poly material and cross contaminate them? Or is that just a case of me over thinking things?

I also finally started to catch onto the way Kremer pigments' site works. So I picked up some .1 Micron FeOx to play with too. Not entirely sure what my plan is for this...I don't know if any of my razors can handle that kind of edge, but I do know my face probably can't. And I don't really have any strops available for it. Might see if my friends at the body shop can set me up with some seat belt material from a total or something.

At any rate, what's the manual of arms for FeOx? Anything I should know about using it for razors?

Over the last couple of years I've tried different things on canvas and leather strops. In judging by face feel for me, I felt that not putting anything on the strops gave the best results. I like a buttery smooth blade. I even quit using water stones and I'm now exclusively with oil.
To answer your question, I don't think the crox will bleed. Of course that depends on your webbing material. Before I got my current one I went to the army navy store and got a 3 inch wide canvas web strap. I was only about $5 I think. Probably went up a little since that was about four or so years ago.
Cheers,
John

You never need to worry about fine pastes or sprays contaminating a strop that has larger particles, but you do need to worry about larger particles contaminating a strop with smaller particles. Thus, you do not want your 0.25 CBN to contaminate your 0.1 FeOX strop.

Supposedly, leather and natural cloth (linen and cotton) have silicate abrasives that are somewhere around 0.2 micron, so even getting 0.25 CBN on one of them should not be a problem.

Poly web is made of synthetic materials (polyester, nylon, or polypropylene) that do not have abrasive properties of their own, so fine abrasive pastes could make them more like a natural fiber strop.

heres another solution , Euclid, make a paper type , or sailcloth type strop, very inexpensive, that he puts CBN on, then you just mist it with water before use, the strop, no leather needed and its a daily strop. I have one razor that I have been using this method for and the razor has not needed any touchup for a few months now. it is a very smooth shave. this is the only razor I have done like this but the material he uses I was told is cheap and its a very good material for CBN, ask him he,ll give you all the details TC

Props on Euclid's strop. I've got one from him with Chrome Ox on it that is great for delaying a hone touchup.
I'm 99% sure it's a sail cloth.
One of the best things I got when I was a SR infant!

Jer

It’s been a few years since I experimented with FeO, I too used Kremer.

It can be put on any smooth surface, leather, cloth, paper, cardboard, canvas, linen and felt. The softer the substrate the slower and finer the polish.

FeO is very similar to Cerium in terms of polish. Cerium a bit more aggressive. Now days I use Chrome Oxide, and CBN. I like to use Chrome Oxide, between stones when honing and CBN, for maintenance.

For FeO, I like smooth veg tanned leather, but canvas works well. Mix 1/8 to a ¼ teaspoon with a few drops of mineral oil or Ballistol and apply with your finger in 3 in X’s.

For CBN, I use Pellon, a paper/fabric, interfacing, used to stiffen parts of clothing, collars and shirt plackets, similar to Tyvek and as strong or stronger. It can be bonded with iron-on fusing tape, and it will tear, before coming unglued. A yard from any fabric store will cost you 2-5 buck, they are always having 50 percent off sales. That will get you a sheet of 36 X 45 inches and will make about 10- 20, strops. Use 2 in D rings from Ace Hardware or Tandy.

I have posted photos on how to cut the notches to fold through the ring and fuse together. I will see if I can find a link for you.

Cotton Canvas or Polyester Canvas (Sail Cloth) About $5-10, per yard from a fabric store will also work for Chrome, Ferrous and Cerium very well. Not as good for CBN.

CBN works best, misted wet, so the substrate needs to be able to be wet repeatedly and dry without puckering or molding.

So, for me the best is, Pellon for CBN, Leather or Poly Canvas for the Oxides. Pellon is a brand name for interfacing, but is the most popular and widely available here in California, even Wal-Mart.

Also, paddles perform very differently on Razors than hanging strops. You will have to experiment, to get the result you are after. For example, a hanging Chrome Oxide strop is less aggressive than the same substrate on a paddle.

I prefer hanging strops for razors and paddles for tools and knives.

Originally Posted by jsuiters

Over the last couple of years I've tried different things on canvas and leather strops. In judging by face feel for me, I felt that not putting anything on the strops gave the best results. I like a buttery smooth blade. I even quit using water stones and I'm now exclusively with oil.
To answer your question, I don't think the crox will bleed. Of course that depends on your webbing material. Before I got my current one I went to the army navy store and got a 3 inch wide canvas web strap. I was only about $5 I think. Probably went up a little since that was about four or so years ago.
Cheers,
John

I'm prone to agree honestly. The best feeling, most comfortable edges I've shaved with have been honed on a natural finisher, and stropped with nothing but linen and leather. I dislike super keen synthetic edges, and truth be told a few laps on Chrome Ox does nothing to 'tame the edge.' Not for me anyway, it just gets even keener and less comfortable.

So I don't really know what the heck I'm thinking, obtaining pastes to make a blade even keener still.

There's no real goal as far as the edge/shave is concerned. I'm just kind of playing with things to see what I end up with. CBN and FeOx probably aren't even things I would use on a regular basis for razors, but razors make an excellent test bed because you learn exactly how sharp your edges are when it's brushing the hair off your cheeks. But I'll probably stick to hanging strops and make one similar to Euclid's. Thanks for showing the process.