Thread: Jeweler's rouge?

Has anyone here ever used jewelers rouge on their strops?
A gentleman on another (non-shaving) board told me that about once every year he treats his daily use strop with jewelers rouge. Has anyone else heard of this?
Wouldn't it be like using a pasted strop as a daily user?

I would think so yes

how does jewelers rouge compare to chromium oxide in grit terms?

I'm no tsure how it would compare. I'm not sure I'd want to use one for an every day strop though.

I apply some jeweler's rouge on the "sued" side of my strop about every other month. I think it helps to smoothen the razor's edge a bit. There are many different kinds of this stuff on the market. All are a little different from one another. So, the question how the rouge compares to chromium oxide is difficult to answer. Most of them are finer, from my experience, as they are intended to be used for precious alloys (gold, silver, etc.), which are significantly softer than steel.

Sorry if this is slightly off topic but Cro pasting of strops could not have happened till late 1700's. Chrome was undiscovered till then so Jeweller's rouge and/or other substances would have been the choice. Because CrO is a chrome compound it gives a brighter polish on steel but I can't help wondering - Which gives the smoother shave ?

Jeweller's rouge and CrO can be identical in grit size or worlds apart. Depends on what you buy but grit size alone does not a good polish make. You could use 0.3 micron Aluminium oxide powder but it can clump together and form a larger grit size.

Rouge is slightly harder 9 Mohs compared to 8.5 for CrO. However rouge is more friable so it breaks down faster and becomes finer which also implies it might cut faster to a point. It's effect after say, 9 months use on a strop without a top up would be conjecture on my part but it might give an ultra fine polish.

Some experimenting may be in order.