Thread: Can Chrome Oxide cause microchipping?

I've been experimenting with the green stuff lately, trying to figure out if it's really all that, for me anyway. I'm never sure it's an improvement over my coticule.

So lately I've been shaving with razors I've freshly honed, coming off the coticule. Halfway through the shave I stop and strop on the green. I do half my face at a time; WTG and ATG on one side, then repeat on the other side after the chrome oxide. And I can't say I've noticed much improvement. With one of my big fillys there was some, but not a lot. I figure it's probably just that my edges aren't that great, and you need a supersharp edge to begin with to be benefitting from chrome oxide.

But today I was doing that with a little modern wedge and the shave was markedly worse after the chrome oxide. I looked closely at the edge in the light afterwards and there were four or five tiny tiny little microchips I hadn't noticed before. Has anyone ever got microchipping from green paste? It seems somehow unlikely.

I don't use green paste often but I have a travel strop with the stuff on one side and the few times I've used it I've always gotton good results. I don't see why it would cause microchipping.

Dylan,

Several members have reported screwing up the edge on a pasted paddle if they didn't strop on plain leather first. I think the idea is that the fin is misaligned, and then you grind it off on the pasted paddle.

Another possibility is that you have too much paste on the paddle. I originally coated my paddle in a thick coat of paste so that it was entirely green. This was dulling my razors terribly. The less paste you use, the better. Ideally the paddle should have a faint green tinge, and not even over the entire surface.

It's easy to go overboard, because that green paste is just so darn pretty...

Josh

Bingo.

This thing looks like a pool table.

Thanks Josh.

Now my dilemma is whether to start over again from the low grits. This is an unusual ebay razor in that it appeared to be NOS, but with spots of corrosion, even on the bevel. I gave it a good 60-70 laps on the 4K Norton, then went to the Belgians. It was shaving very well til I took it the pool table. But I did notice very faint, tiny little etched traces of corrosion on the bevel, and I had been wondering whether I needed to go down to 1K sandpaper and get rid of all that, even before I dulled it with the green. And now there's these tiny tiny microchips – granted, very small, the kind of thing you can normally shave with no problem. But I think maybe all told, I should go to the sandpaper and start from the top.

It's the kind of thing makes me wish I had a DMT 1200.

I'd give it about 3 1-5's on the Norton and no more than 10-12 strokes on the green stuff. I guess Lynn won me over lol

I think it was in the "feather to straight" thread in the shaving forum where I posted a photo of one of my paddles showing how little paste is needed. It was a throwaway newspaper-wrapped paddle and not a nice leather paddle, but illustrates the "less is more" point nicely.

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Dylan,

Several members have reported screwing up the edge on a pasted paddle if they didn't strop on plain leather first. I think the idea is that the fin is misaligned, and then you grind it off on the pasted paddle.

Another possibility is that you have too much paste on the paddle. I originally coated my paddle in a thick coat of paste so that it was entirely green. This was dulling my razors terribly. The less paste you use, the better. Ideally the paddle should have a faint green tinge, and not even over the entire surface.

It's easy to go overboard, because that green paste is just so darn pretty...

Josh

GREAT info to have, Josh. I've got .5 and .25micron paste coming my way and I had yet to hear that a stropping on plain leather in smart before using a pasted paddle. I am starting to figure out that the general consensus is the "less is more" belief.