Thread: Chromium Oxide Paste from SRD

Does anyone know if this is a prepared paste or does it have to be mixed with an oil?

You don't have to do anything with it. Its kind of like a big crayon.

Anyone noticed a difference between this stuff & the HandAmerican powder? I used the latter w/ Lexol to paste an old strop & it works well. (Now I want to add SRD diamond spray & felt to the party.) But is the crayon any better? PSAD is starting, I fear...

I ordered it from SRD along with my new strop. I'm going to try putting it on the linen section from the strop I used to learn on (the leather suffered from my learning curve).

I haven't used any pastes yet, just run the razor over the linen strop about 30 times then the leather about 60 before I shave. I've had good luck, because the blade stayed sharp for about 6 months (shave 3 times a week average). It was really wierd when I noticed in the last week that it had gone dull. It's like it was fine one day, bad the next, and useless the next. I'm sending it out to SRD along with another razor that I've never liked to see if it was the edge tomorrow.

Hoping that using the Chromium Oxide will help keep the blade fresh. Any recommendations on how many laps and how often to start the experimentation?

For me, off the super 12k, 10 strokes on a "medium" pasted shell horsehide (antique shop, & reconditioned by me) strop seems to work pretty well. I haven't had the new stones long enough to have a chance to touch up yet, but on that setup, I'd start w/ 5-10 strokes, test & go from there.
Start low & work up until you're getting edges you like--too many strokes/too thick a treatment can actually dull the razor. It's better if you can still see some leather underneath. There's a good tutorial in the wiki about pasting a strop. I'd do the same thing w/ the crayon regarding Xs on the strop, then rubbing it even. You can always add more.

EDIT: the tutorial is a stickie posted in this subforum (strops)

Originally Posted by captainboog

I ordered it from SRD along with my new strop. I'm going to try putting it on the linen section from the strop I used to learn on (the leather suffered from my learning curve).

I haven't used any pastes yet, just run the razor over the linen strop about 30 times then the leather about 60 before I shave. I've had good luck, because the blade stayed sharp for about 6 months (shave 3 times a week average). It was really wierd when I noticed in the last week that it had gone dull. It's like it was fine one day, bad the next, and useless the next. I'm sending it out to SRD along with another razor that I've never liked to see if it was the edge tomorrow.

Hoping that using the Chromium Oxide will help keep the blade fresh. Any recommendations on how many laps and how often to start the experimentation?

If you sent it out to get honed you shouldn't need to use the CrO for a while. Once it starts to get dull just do 5-10 laps on it. If its not sharp enough after that do 5-10 more. You don't need a whole lot to keep your edge up.

Yeah, I figured that it would be a bit before I needed to use the pasted strop on the fresh razors. I'm going to try another dull one on it for a bit to try and get a feel for it before subjecting my preferred razor to it.

I guess it is a matter of definition of what a dull razor is. If a razor is tugging after stropping, it's time to visit the pasted strop. If that isn't enough, I refresh the edge on my stones.

I pasted the old linen strop of my Illinois 835 with the chromium oxide yesterday, and stropped a couple of razors on it today. Really made a remarkable improvement. Not having used any pastes before, I was unaware how smooth it makes the edge. Feels much less harsh than even when it was new.

I tried it on another razor that I had planned to send out for rehoning, and it made a lot of improvement, but there is one tiny irregularity in the edge that seems to need more work. I'm going to send that one out, then try keeping them all up with the pasted strop from time to time after that.

The SRD is made by Mastro Livi. I have a couple of them I use to use as has been said like a big crayon. I put some on a stained blade then use my Dremel with a buffer wheel and it works great for that purpose.
For applying to a strop use the powder and mineral oil.