Thread: Chromium Oxide for Lapidary Polishing

It shouldn't feel wet, perhaps you used too much conditioner and it needs a while longer to dry?? And it does take VERY little to paste a whole strop. I'm sure what you have will last you a LOOOONNNNG time!

Dave

Okay, I believe I'm going a bit crazy. The paste is still moist. When I touch it, it still comes off a little on my finger. I feel that I've screwed up somewhere.

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.