Thread: CRO - The best surface?

What is the best surface to apply Cro. on? - leather, linen, or balsa??

What are the pros vs cons on each??

Thanks for the advice

there are many other who are much more experienced then me, but i did make a wooden paddle strop out of poplar and pasted it with CrOx and it worked good. i have a smaller leather strop that i like better. from what i have gathered the leather strop is a bit more forgiving when it comes to warped or smiling blades. that being said i have read many posted from people who swear by their balsa strops and i myself do like mine, i just prefer the leather for now, that could change. if it were me (and at one point it was) i would buy the materials and make a wooden one and try it out, then if the backside of your unpasted strop is smooth enough try it on that to see which you like better. i have a linen and use it but it isn't pasted so no help there.

My preferences:

Balsa with chrome ox mixed with light oil. A large "X" painted on the surface of the balsa (it spreads out with honing). It works the fastest for me when doing touch ups.

Newspaper with a small bit of dry chrome ox powder rubbed into the surface.

Leather bench strop (flat) - dry chrome ox rubbed into the surface

I do not use a hanging chrome ox leather strop any longer. It was too easy to round edges. I still use that hanging strop flat on a workbench for my chisels.

Chris L

i have tried usint it on just about everything i like it best when the surface cant be distorted though as chris said rounding the edge if you arent carefull i like it best on my hand american base on the hard felt pad

Balsa paddle...

Cheap and very effective.

Does exactly what it needs to do.

I just pasted mine onto a paddle strop from Lee Valley. I just mixed the powder in with a little mineral oil and rubbed it right on the leather, lightly. It's a pretty good surface to strop on, but I've asked for a Tony Miller 4 sidded paddle strop for Xmas....... I figure I can use it for diamond pastes and chromium oxide! Oh the joys the stropping...

Dave

p.s. I wasn't joking about the joys of stropping, I stropped my boker a good 200+ times tonight cause I was bored! You better believe that baby was smooth after....poppin' hairs like crazy!

Balsa- easy,cheap,effective. You NEED a balsa paddle strop with CrOx.

I have used both leather and balsa on a paddle and much prefer the balsa. The balsa is much cheaper and has a better draw. It soaks up the CrO somewhat and evenly spreads. I have the liquid CrO which is easy to apply. I touchup the paddle by wetting my finger and rubbing it and sometimes add a few drops of CrO. The paddle can be refreshed and flattened with a sanding block or belt sander. +1 on the balsa paddle strop for CrO and diamond paste.

bj

2 sharp,
nice paddles man......
nice work....

mark...