Thread: Next step in stropping...

Hi all,

I've reached a bit of a confusing crossroads in terms of honing and stropping. I use the Dovo straight with a buffalo horn handle. I hone on a Norton 4000/8000 using pyramids. I strop before every shave on canvas with French strop paste applied to it (the kind in a rectangular bar with a green wrapper) for about 15 rounds and then move onto leather treated with a little mineral oil. This was how the barber at Trumpers advised I do it about 3 months ago. Works well.

I recently got a Wapienica from theinvisibleedge.co.uk to get an idea how sharp I should be getting my straight. It was no sharper than I'm getting my Dovo. In fact the Dovo gives a much better shave.

My main confusion is how to get a better edge. Some people say 0.5 micron diamond, some say 0.5 chromium oxide. Some say canvas with a paste, some say leather with a paste. Some say you shouldn't need any more than a hone and a canvas and leather strop and that the pastes were never meant to go anywhere near a razor edge.

Also I can't find a 0.5 micron chromium oxide powder in the UK for love nor money. Pretty sure the Dovo green paste is not the same. It's 6 microns by my understanding and pretty harsh.

I want to go to the next level with my wetting and shaving but cannot see the wood for the trees. Would be really interested to hear from those who only use a hone and their every day strop and get good enough results.

If it's really possible to get that squeegee action from a blade then I want to achieve that.

Any advice or help greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Paul Wood.

You have the right idea. Personally,I too found it difficult to obtain CrOx. I have had exceptional results using a simple balsa paddle strop and .5 micron diamond paste.

Every country has industrial needs and generally has a HUGE supplier for same. These companies have catalogs of literally 1000's of pages. A simple google search for "industrial lapping compounds" should put you in touch with a supplier for diamond paste as well as different mineral lapping compounds.

Amplex, is probably the #1 prefered brand. But I was able to obtain a 18g syringe of .5 micron diamond paste(water based) from McMaster Carr-an industrial supplier. This product was not only cheaper-but performs as well as the Amplex paste I received from one of the Shaving Supply vendors.

I use Shapton glass hones,but have in the past used the Norton with success.Going to the pasted strop has brought all my edges to another level. Personally, I have created VERY keen edges direct from the hone-but without ALOT of stropping-the same sharp edges irritated my face. Polishing on a pasted strop resolved the issue.

Just be aware, that diamonds are VERY aggressive cutters. In a case where 50 passes on Cr.Ox isn't enough,with diamond paste 10 might do the job. Less is more and the only way to test is to shave.

I go from a coticule to a 4-sided paddle strop with Dovo Red, Dovo Black, a chromium oxide that I got from Mastro Livi in Perugia and a 0.25 micron diamond paste from Classic Shaving. I'm extremely satisfied with the results and can't imagine how they could be any better.

As regards shaving with just a hone and regular strop ... for 28 years, I touched up my Dovo on a barber hone and then stropped it on a regular haning strop and got good shaves. With the paddle strop their just a little bit better.

try looking for a lapidary supplier. (rock shaping and polishing.) i got my diamond paste up to .5 micron at one here in US. they will have lots of different polishing stuff.

good luck.

vgod

You will find if you accumulate enough razors that some razors prefer some honing routines and some prefer others so there is no cookie cutter approach. In general I find either the coticule or my vintage escher puts as good an edge on most of my razors as I will ever need. I have a few razors with very hard steel and I use the pasted strop with diamonds for those. You do have to be careful with the diamond because you can easily strop so much the edge will microchip very easily and it doesn't take many passes to do the damage as has been said. Personally I prefer the amplex because though it is more expensive the sorting of the diamonds is done with greater precision which is very important and besides once you paste a strop it should last for years.

Thanks all for the replies.

Seems that the overall message is that a pasted strop will give me that next level of keeness.

I've ordered a 0.5 micron diamond paste from a reputable Polish eBayer who specialises in shaving products.

I guess the next question is how much to apply to the strop and how? Do you apply an x pattern or just squeeze a bit on and distribute.

Can this also be applied to a linen strop or only leather or a balsa paddle.

Regards,

Paul.

Originally Posted by Lt.Arclight

You have the right idea. Personally,I too found it difficult to obtain CrOx. I have had exceptional results using a simple balsa paddle strop and .5 micron diamond paste.

Every country has industrial needs and generally has a HUGE supplier for same. These companies have catalogs of literally 1000's of pages. A simple google search for "industrial lapping compounds" should put you in touch with a supplier for diamond paste as well as different mineral lapping compounds.

Amplex, is probably the #1 prefered brand. But I was able to obtain a 18g syringe of .5 micron diamond paste(water based) from McMaster Carr-an industrial supplier. This product was not only cheaper-but performs as well as the Amplex paste I received from one of the Shaving Supply vendors.

I use Shapton glass hones,but have in the past used the Norton with success.Going to the pasted strop has brought all my edges to another level. Personally, I have created VERY keen edges direct from the hone-but without ALOT of stropping-the same sharp edges irritated my face. Polishing on a pasted strop resolved the issue.

Just be aware, that diamonds are VERY aggressive cutters. In a case where 50 passes on Cr.Ox isn't enough,with diamond paste 10 might do the job. Less is more and the only way to test is to shave.

Another question on this... I orderd my diamond from McMaster, too, and I'm wondering how to apply it to the balsa. I ordered the 5mg syringe. Did you space drops an equal distance apart, or stripe it down the center and spread it all over the strop?

Application of the diamond paste to either a balsa paddle strop or leather strop is simple. Small dabs used very sparingly around the surface-spread it around with your fingertip. Let dry. Good to go.

Depending on the surface, and the relative humidity the paste will dry in about 24 hours. Though some days after you will notice some paste will still come off the strop. I simply wipe it off the blade and reapply it.

You will notice the grey color turn a blueish hue as the metal removed by the paste gets deposited. It is of no concern.

The only caveat using diamond paste- GO SLOW and use very few passes. The only true monitor is Shaving with the blade. Diamond paste will RAPIDLY cut a wicked sharp edge. You'll be happy as a PIG IN S&^Tthen when you shave OUCH. Overuse will turn the edge into a grater. You must know your razor. Some, like a TI I own takes a beautiful edge that can be shaved with after a minimum of stropping. On the other hand, my H.Wacker INOX- is super hard and VERY difficult to hone. Diamonds RAPIDLY create a keen edge-but that edge is full of micro-chips that mascerate your skin. I can't stress enough, that unlike CrOx-which tends to make velvet edges on practically ANY razor, the diamond paste-ESPECIALLY the 0.25 micron can destroy all the work you did on the hones.

Short of shaving and FEELING the roughness, checking the edge under magnification will reveal alot about how the razor responds to the diamonds. Even a 10X loupe can save you ALOT of RAZOR burn.

I just received a jar of CrOX paste from McMaster-Carr (part# 4807A89 ) I'll be trying it out to see how it compares to the CrOx powder that seems to be so elusive to obtain.