Thread: which strop abrasive?

I realize that this may be a polarizing question, but I'm looking for advice regarding the type of pastes used on my paddle strops.

At the moment I'm working with a simple leather strop to keep the edges on my blades. While I'm saving for my TM heirloom strop, I created a pair of paddle strops out of a spindle for a deck fence. Cut in half, the spindle provided me with two paddles, each with two 2" by 10" surfaces that are perfect for strips of balsa. I know, pictures are needed, and I'll post some as soon as I can charge the camera battery.

I've purchased some of Chris' CrO2 for one of the surfaces, ideally as the final stopping surface before leather. However, I'm unsure what I'll use on the other three. I've considered diamond paste, as seen here:

DMT DiaPaste™ Diamond CompoundKit of 1, 3, and 6 Micron - Knifecenter.com

But the recent thread regarding the Dovo pastes have me wondering if they may be just as good, at a fraction of the cost.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

- Mark (S-4-C)

I've got some diamond paste from a guy from poland on ebay at about $4 for a 10gr syringe. more than enought to paste 5 strops.. I bought the 0.5 and .25 micron but I only tried the .5 on my cheapest padle so far.. I don't have lots of experience with pasted strops but I hope the diamond paste will maintain the edge for quite a while..

Maarten

The 3 and 6 micron pastes will be fairly infrequently used, the 1 micron is the main one you'll be using, but 1 micron diamond usually leaves a fairly rough-feeling edge unless the razor is extremely hard. The Dovo red and black pastes, even though they're also roughly 3 and 1 microns leave a much smoother and sharper edge than the equivalent micron diamond, partly because they're much slower. Generally speaking, for two abrasives of roughly equivalent grit sizes, the slower-cutting abrasive will produce the finer edge, so ~3 micron Dovo red produces a finer edge than 3 micron diamond, 1.8 micron boron carbide produces a finer edge than 1 micron diamond, and 0.5 micron chrome oxide produces a finer edge than 0.5 micron diamond, and 0.3 micron Linde "A" produces a finer edge than 0.25 micron diamond.

If you're looking at the full Dovo progression of green, red, black, and white paste, then a roughly equivalent diamond progression would be 3, 1, 0.5, and 0.25 microns.

Originally Posted by mparker762

The 3 and 6 micron pastes will be fairly infrequently used, the 1 micron is the main one you'll be using, but 1 micron diamond usually leaves a fairly rough-feeling edge unless the razor is extremely hard. The Dovo red and black pastes, even though they're also roughly 3 and 1 microns leave a much smoother and sharper edge than the equivalent micron diamond, partly because they're much slower. Generally speaking, for two abrasives of roughly equivalent grit sizes, the slower-cutting abrasive will produce the finer edge, so ~3 micron Dovo red produces a finer edge than 3 micron diamond, 1.8 micron boron carbide produces a finer edge than 1 micron diamond, and 0.5 micron chrome oxide produces a finer edge than 0.5 micron diamond, and 0.3 micron Linde "A" produces a finer edge than 0.25 micron diamond.

If you're looking at the full Dovo progression of green, red, black, and white paste, then a roughly equivalent diamond progression would be 3, 1, 0.5, and 0.25 microns.

If one was to go with a .5 diamond and follow that with Chrome oxide paste, what are your thoughts?

Total agreement with what mparker just stated above.....

I would add that different steels react differently to different pastes....

I mean in general here, such as I would not use any diamond paste on an older Sheffield blade... but I would not hesitate using all the way to .25 on an American steel razor.... you just have to let your face tell you what works for it...
Basically I look at honing as being pretty straight forward where paste is a more personal taste type of thing.... Hope that made some sense...

What I am saying is you have to do some testing yourself, other than .50 Cr which seems to be the safe bet on all edges ....

It did, thanks Glen. I've come to realize that learning the proper technique to a shave is only the tip of the iceberg, understanding the maintenance required to maintain a good "shave" ready straight is the tough part. Lot of different quirks and things as such. Lot of trial and error in regards to what a particular razor and what your skin likes!

Originally Posted by Joeman

If one was to go with a .5 diamond and follow that with Chrome oxide paste, what are your thoughts?

It's a bit redundant. 0.5 micron chrome oxide isn't sufficiently finer than 0.5 micron diamond to warrant using the diamond first. The main reason to keep the 0.5 micron diamond around is that some razors just do better with it than with the chrome oxide. TI's seem to prefer 0.5 diamond over 0.5 micron chrome oxide IMO.

Ah, good to know. The beauty of this forum, learn something new, and beneficial every day. I've made it my goal to try and maintain my razors so it's a challenge, but fun.

Joeman

The harshness of the edge is due to the harshness if the shape of the abrasive particle, which is typically related to it's speed as MParker pointed out. Very angular abrasives, even though the same grit size as a more rounded abrasive will cut faster but leave sharper, ragged scratches, (rough edge, rough shave) where the rounded one will cut more slowly but leave smoother scratches (smooth scratches, smoother shave). Of course the perception of rough vs, smooth shave will depend on your particular skin. Some guys have skin that gets irritated easily with any roughness, others could shave with a saw blade and not have a problem.

I myself use diamond for most of my touch up stropping on paddles as it leaves an edge that works well for me. I do occasionally use chromium and think it is a great addition to any paddle.

On hones much of the same thing applies, rounded shapes of the abrasive particles tend to leave smoother edges. This is why coticles cut so smoothly. Even an arkansas stone will leaves a buttery smooth edge if you can hone long enough on one to get the razor sharp. they tend to be very slow cutters.

So, for a 2 sided paddle I still like 1.0 and 0.5 diamond, or 1.0 diamond and 0.5 chromium. The 0.25 and 3.0 would be the optional surfaces, ones I do use occasionally, but not very often. The 3.0 does provide a quick alternative to the 8K Norton if you just want a quick refresh.

Tony

The camera battery finally got charged. Here's a couple of shots. Not my best work, but I was in a hurry. I placed a DA in the shot for size reference.





Thanks for all of the feedback. The Diapaste is tempting, but for the cost I may still lean toward the Dovo paste. Still trying to decide.

- Mark (S-4-C)