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  1. #21
    Senior Member blabbermouth ChrisL's Avatar
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    I agree with you, and also believe you've made a good point. Stropping on plain newspaper must be acknowledged as a viable and proven stropping/polishing method. It's always been one of my favorite ways to finish an edge I've just honed prior to leather stropping and shaving. I've simply found that rubbing a very small amount of chromium oxide into the newspaper surface gives me very fast results, whereas plain newspaper takes me a bit longer to feel like the edge is where I want it to be. That said, I find stropping on plain newspaper (I'm talking about a few layers of newspaper taped very tightly to a flat surface -I've been using my lapped Chinese 12K stone for a flat surface since it's the size of a brick) is very relaxing.

    Chris L

    Quote Originally Posted by English View Post
    I love Chromium Oxide.
    I have some from Chris and some from Hand American.
    I also found a chemical supplier who will supply any grade you want.
    It is incredibly cheap to purchase because it is a basic pigment they use to make some green paints.

    So everybody wins.

    What I do not like about this post is the throwaway comments about using Chromium Oxide on newspaper as if that is a way to go.

    That hides an option that is important to understand.

    Newspaper on its own will give you a sharper smoother edge than Chromium Oxide. For me it's too sharp almost like diamond paste.

    Still what do I know, it was my Grandad that used newspaper to hone his razor and all the household cutlery knives . He was always clean shaven and never had razor burn.

    So to avoid confusion,

    Stropping on newspaper will give you a smooth very very sharp edge. It is very inexpensive.

    Stropping on Chromium oxide will give you a very sharp edge. It is more expensive than newspaper but still very inexpensive.

    Depending on your skins sensitivity, you may prefer one over the other but you should really try them both and see for yourself which one you prefer.

    I make this post as a point of clarification only.
    "Blues fallin' down like hail." Robert Johnson
    "Aw, Pretty Boy, can't you show me nuthin but surrender?" Patti Smith

  2. #22
    Junior Member SH-60Pilot's Avatar
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    Let me get this right, you can just run your razor back on forth over a taught piece of newspaper without any kind of abrasive, just like stropping, and you can actually sharpen the razor better than with an abrasive? is the ink in the paper abrasive, or is it the paper fiber itself?

  3. #23
    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    SH,

    The ink is a very fine abrasive, I believe some say it's effectively 1/10-1/4 micron and paper is also very slightly abrasive. So using a piece of newsprint with the greatest amount of black ink on it that you can find will enhance the polish on your edge, but it needs to be sharp to start with.

  4. #24
    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    English,

    Who is this supplier of incredibly cheap Cr2O3 in whatever grade needed?

  5. #25
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    To answer you question quickly, I would need to search the net for some time.
    I didn't keep my search. I thought buying off Chris was a lot quicker and easier.
    But it was an American Company with a UK Sub and they made the Chromium oxide in any grade of grain size that you required.

    If it is really important to you, let me know and I'll try searching again and try and find them for you.

    Please let me know.

  6. #26
    Senior Member Navaja's Avatar
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    I don't think the New York Times is even good for that

  7. #27
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    I think the Company was called Elementis.

  8. #28
    Junior Member SH-60Pilot's Avatar
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    Now, I had been under the impression that cromium oxide was either in a powder or a wet paste form. I recently ordered some and it was more of a very hard waxy consistency. I've seen the videos of people mixing the powder and paste with a little water and spreading it, but mine doesn't seem to want to do that very well. Do I need to grind some off, or use boiling water or what?

  9. #29
    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    SH,

    The chromium oxide we want should be a 1/2 micron powder or the same suspended in some type of leather friendly vehicle. The stuff that comes as a polishing wheel charging compound in a wax base may or may not be the stuff we want. The reason being is that the particle size is generally an unknown and probably coarser than we want unless the maker of the bar of grit states specifically that the grit size is .5 micron.

    good luck

  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce View Post
    SH,

    The ink is a very fine abrasive, I believe some say it's effectively 1/10-1/4 micron and paper is also very slightly abrasive. So using a piece of newsprint with the greatest amount of black ink on it that you can find will enhance the polish on your edge, but it needs to be sharp to start with.
    I go from Chrisl's powder (on paper) --> plain newspaper --> latigo strop

    The newspaper I'm currently using is a dark photo (lots of ink). To be precise it's Paul McCartney's face, since he was recently in the news here in Quebec.

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