Thread: Liquid AND Dry Powder Chromium Oxide?

So I was looking around on JapaneseKnifeSharpening.com and I found that they sell both liquid and dry powder chromium oxide.

Liquid CrO2
Powder CrO2

Then I noticed that in the on-site tutorial "How to Apply Chromium Oxide to Leather" they use the liquid CrO2 first, and then the dry powder CrO2.

Has anyone tried this? (using much less cro-ox, of course)
Could it maybe work better than using powder alone?
...or is this maybe just to get you to buy both, when you really only need one?

It is my understanding that using one or the other doesn't make much difference, especially if you mix your dry powder with a dressing like in the pasting tutorial on the SRP Wiki.

I have and use both, but not always at the same time.

I use the dry for applying to things like felt, newspaper, wood, or anything that naturally "grabs" it. Plenty of leathers take the dry chromium oxide without needing anything else mixed in.

I use the wet for when I want consistent coverage all over a certain medium.

Using Dave's instructions for applying both to a leather bench one works great, actually. Because the mix soaks into the leather, it appears that you have way too much on the hone, but remember that you have to wipe up excess off the surface with a paper towel. I have a 3 x 11 bench hone that I keep in my kitchen to maintain my carbon steel knives loaded as per Dave's instructions, and it works fantastic. I use it every now and then on some of my razors, and I haven't noticed that it's too much at all.

Used judiciously, you shouldn't have any problem on straight razors at all. Have you seen Mastro Livi's videos? He pretty much rocks out the "pool table green" style of pasting, and appears to have good results. Very interesting honing and stropping technique, but good results none the less.

Thanks Ben, that is very interesting!
When I saw Dave's way I naturally assumed that he used too much, but you're right, he did wipe off the excess with a paper towel twice.

I just bought CrOx powder from japaneseknifeshaprening.com. The nifty little bottles of premixed which looked really nice and seemed like a really good idea. Perceived value per dollar won out in my case, I went with the powder. I just cut the powder with a bit of neat’s foot oil and it pastes up no problem. I want to try it on other mediums like felt and wood, so it seemed more prudent.