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If I go with a 4-sided paddle strop, does it make sense to get 1.0 & 0.5 diamond, as well as 0.5 chromium to do the final smoothing of the blade?
also, I have never worked with chromium before and I hear that it is messy.....is it a problem to put the chromium on one of the 4 sides of the paddle strop? should I have a separate bench hone dedicated to the chromium?
I have a TM 4-sided paddle strop pasted with 1 micron diamond, 0.5 micron diamond, 0.25 micron diamond, and 0.5 micron chromium oxide pastes. I didn't have any problems at all with pasting the chromium oxide side. I just mixed the powder with a little bit of mineral oil in the lid of a watter bottle and rubbed it in with my finger. You probably should be using a glove as it does kind of stain your finger for a bit, but I didn't find it messy at all in liquid form once I mixed it with the oil.
If you just follow this method: Pasting a strop - a photo tutorial - Straight Razor Place Wiki, for pasting with chromium oxide powder you should be set. :gl:
Dave,
Thanks for the info...one more question: What is your take on the 0.25 diamond paste? I hear that a lot people find it too harsh and therefore don't go below 0.25. I know I won't know unless I try it for myself, but what has been your experience.
If it doesn't make much sense to get the 0.25, then I might get the combo paddle, and leave the open side (w/ Latigo) for regular stropping (although I do have a TM hanging strop). What would you do, know what you do now and looking back on it? If you could purchase it over again, would you go with the same setup or would you have changed something?
Honestly, I haven't used the pasted paddle strop at all lately. I've been trying to get good edges with stones alone, so I've been trying to avoid the pastes as much as possible. When I used the 0.25 micron diamond paste though, I'm pretty sure I got a better shave when I used the chromium oxide afterwards instead of just finishing on the 0.25 diamond.
The 0.25 micron diamond paste isn't necessary IMO, I think you can get all the sharpness and smoothness you need with the 0.5 micron diamond and chromium oxide.
Pastes are great. I still use them along with my hones. Now, You can get the crox that needs mixing and all that, but you can also get it from SRD. It looks like a big crayon. It couldn't be any easier to apply. Plus, it's good stuff. No fuss, No muss.....
No matter what hone your using, you can always finish off your blade with crox..IMHO
I saw that at SRD...do you apply it in the "x" pattern, or do you simply spread over the entire surface in a thin layer?
Do you let a full 24 hours for pastes to dry before using?