Thread: cro-ox vs. diamond spray

aside from how its applied, is one better than the other?

Total rookie answer but from what I've gathered, different steel takes to one or the other better. Now the question is, which steel likes what? Not sure, one of the vets could probably spew the answer quickly. Never used Diamond but the CrOx works well for me.

I have been wondering the same thing myself for awhile now, so I decided to see for myself.

Right now I have a hanging strop & a paddle strop with CrO that I've been using for a few months with excellent results. Last week I bought a bench strop with 1.0 and .25 micron diamond pastes from Tony Miller.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how many passes on each to optimize a razor, but my early tests say there isn't much difference over the .5 finished razors. I have a feeling the diamond paste will be more effective on heavy wedges since they cut faster where the CrO will be better on my full hollow razors.

Once I get the hang of the new medium, I should have a better answer.

Dave

the diamond spray will give a harsh shave on some blades what i do is diamond spray then cro to get the velvit smooth shave i do about 20 laps on both

I don't use diamond or chrom ox much but I'm glad I have it when I feel the need. I found the diamond paste to leave a harsh edge and would smooth it with chrom ox but the diamond spray on the felt hanging strop has left just as smooth an edge as the chrom ox IME. I found the felt strop/0.5 spray combo really effective on tough steels such as the TI Damascus and ATS-34.

I've given some thought to why the spray would leave a smoother edge than the paste and at first thought that it may be a result of my application of the paste being less even than the spray. It could also be the saturation level of the abrasive in the spray versus the paste. Whatever it is the spray is working great for me when I need to use it.

I actually like them both and use both on a felt flatbed hone or a felt hanging strop. I like the spray .5 diamond as it does go on evenly and the felt has a little give to it which I feel softens the harshness. Scientific....Nope. Just what I think. The main thing is that it works. I have used the chromium oxide liquid and paste on the the felt too and like it a lot. Every now and then I will get a razor that really cuts well with the diamond spray and I wouldn't call it a harsh feeling, but it's more a cutting feeling than a glide and with just 5-7 strokes on the chromium oxide it usually gets that glide.

I don't use the leather pads much any more or the back of the strop for the pastes, but they will definitely work. The .25 diamond is fun to play with too, but definitely not as consistent as I would like so it doesn't get much use from me.

Again, not scientific, but I do feel some razors prefer one over the other. Why, which razors 100% of the time . It's like trying to figure out why I like the feel of the pastes or spray coming off a synthetic stone or an Escher or Nakayama more than a Coticule.

Have fun,

Lynn