Thread: Chromium Oxide for Lapidary Polishing

Well, if you used strop conditioner on a strop and it dried out a few days later, you'd probably be ticked. So if you use strop conditoner on balsa and it doesn't dry out, then you shouldn't be surpirsed! It is what it is.

I don't see the need to use anything as a carrier for the chromium oxide. It takes very little chrome ox to be effective, and since it's half of a micron, I don't think it would have any problem settling into the gran of the balsa all by itself.

For dry chromium oxide, I wad up a piece of paper towel, dab it in the dry chrome ox, then dab it onto the strop, putting little dots all over, like this: :::::::: Then, once I've blotted it all over, I wipe over it in circular motions to even things out. After that, i take a clean piece of paper towel, and wipe the strop until very little green comes off. What's left on the strop is more than plenty.

Good luck!

Just take a tissue or old t-shirt and lightly rub go over your balsa paddle. Just make sure not to use to much pressure as balsa is very fragile. I had the same thing happen once. It will take forever for it to dry if you don't remove the excess wetness. Just rub back and forth. Do it again the next day if it still feels moist.

Thanks. I'll do that. Now I kind of feel silly for complaining. Of course it should still be moist.

Pure should not be wet? That stuff is made for tumblers so it has to have something in it to help it spread through the media.

But will it being "wet" effect the use of the chromium oxide?

Well, I don't polish rocks or anything, but I think the type of tumbler used is the rotary type, not the vibrating type. The rotary type works just like a smaller slower version of a laundry dryer, as I've seen. Now, if you put some media in a rotary tumbler, and a few spoons of dry chromium oxide, I don't think it would have any problem resulting in an even coating after a few tumbles.

Heck, the dry chromium oxide doesn't have any problem giving my kitchen counters an even coating all by itself if I'm not careful when applying it! I don't see the need for it being wet, and if it did have anything else in it, it wouldn't be pure chromium oxide, would it? It'd be chromium oxide AND whatever else.

I have both the hand american dry chromium oxide and the liquid based, and I've never had anything that wouldn't take the dry just fine.

I'm not sure I understand.

Was the oxide wet out of the bag? Or is it wet because you added strop conditioner to it? Maybe the balsa doesn't absorb the strop conditioner, it's not made to treat wood. Some contain animal fats, wool fat, etc.
The stuff is meant not to dry out.

Regards,

McKie

Balsa in my experience is an odd wood. It doesn't absorb oils like an oak, basswood, etc.

I don't know about "wet", but I've mixed dry chrome ox with Norton honing oil and applied that to balsa. It does take some time for the mixture to "dry" out. Meaning, what is essentially oil based paint at that point coats the spine and edge of a razor for quite some time (maybe a week or two) necessitating the need to wipe the razor before putting it to a nice leather strop. It does dry though, and then all is good for a long time.

Chris L

It's definitely dry. I used conditioner as a "carrier". I guess I sort of thought it needed something to stick it to the balsa.

And to me, the conditioner I used looked and smelled a bit like lard. It may take quite a while more to dry.