Thread: Finishing Pastes..0.5, 0.25 or Chromium?

I have one of your four sided paddle strops with diamond pastes. Is it OK to replace the .5 diamond paste with chromium oxide? Or should I stick with the diamond paste?

Good to see you could finally make it , Master.

I'd just go ahead and change pastes after cleaning the leather. What's best to clean the leather? Rubbing alcohol would probably work, but I'd condition a little after that with mink oil. I don't mean to speak on Tony's behalf, I'll bet he's got some excellent advice, but I wanted to say hi.

X

To clean the surface I would just scrub it good with a clean rag until no more paste or color comes off on the rag. Apply the chromium and all will be fine.

I would avoid alcohol on any paddle strops. I use an industrial contact cement on mine but know that alcohol can soften it if applied to heavily. This is exactly why I did not release my diamond sprays. if applied lightly and left to dry a few hours between each application all is fine. I worried most guys would not check the instructions, lay it on wet and wonder why the leather is lifting at the edges <g>. They say there is nothing worse than an idea when it is the only one you have. Luckily I let me in house product tester (my wife) try it and she suggested what is the worst thing a customer could do to a paddle with this spray. We tried the 'worst" 9not reading instructions) and decided this is a road we prefer not to go down. Paste will be just fine, not sprays.

Tony

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

To clean the surface I would just scrub it good with a clean rag until no more paste or color comes off on the rag. Apply the chromium and all will be fine.

I would avoid alcohol on any paddle strops. I use an industrial contact cement on mine but know that alcohol can soften it if applied to heavily. This is exactly why I did not release my diamond sprays. if applied lightly and left to dry a few hours between each application all is fine. I worried most guys would not check the instructions, lay it on wet and wonder why the leather is lifting at the edges <g>. They say there is nothing worse than an idea when it is the only one you have. Luckily I let me in house product tester (my wife) try it and she suggested what is the worst thing a customer could do to a paddle with this spray. We tried the 'worst" 9not reading instructions) and decided this is a road we prefer not to go down. Paste will be just fine, not sprays.

Tony

Am I the only one that *really* wants a spray now??

Great information, Tony, thank you very much. You'll be selling me an apprentice strop and a four sided paddle strop with pastes as soon as SWMBO releases the funds.

check japaneseknifesharpening.com for diamond sprays, and liquid chromium oxide.


BTW, the spray is .25 diamond.

Excellent and informative guide, has given me a new incentive to try .25 diamond paste again.
BTW you can get a 1 micron chrome oxide from here Polishing Suspensions - Extec®
Kind regards,
Alex

Originally Posted by Ben325e

check japaneseknifesharpening.com for diamond sprays, and liquid chromium oxide.


BTW, the spray is .25 diamond.

I have not tried Keith's Sprays but did read they are water based. This should be fine as it will not affect the glue but do apply in light coats and allow to dry between coats if using on one of my paddles. I have not tested mine with the effects of too much water, etc...... I doubt there would be an issue here.

Just a caveat on my products. I build them well but cannot anticipate what other compounds, etc... may do to them. saddle Soap, "Goop", etc.... are all mentioned here daily but I have not used them myself. For dressing either lexol, Neat's Foot Oil, Feiblings or Fromm/Illinois Strop dressings should be fine. Everything else...well, you are on your own.


Tony

Tony,

I have one of your 2 sided paddles with green .5 micron chromium on one side. I got it for a travel strop but because my beard is a razor killer I find myself going to it more and more because I seem to get better results than from the pasted balsa I was using before.

I'm a firm believer in less is more when it comes to using paste and find the green stuff gives me an edge that will squeegie off the whiskers and about 10 laps a week keeps it going that way for months before I have to get more aggressive.