Honing Pastes! Help with choosing please!
Ok gents, all the talk of stropping pastes has got me confused, and I don't want to get messed up before I get started.
First, the things I think I know:
Daily strop:
Linen: White paste (optional)
Leather: Non-abrasive, yellow, aka strop dressing, mink oil etc. as needed to keep leather conditioned.
Pasted/Honing strops:
Diamond pastes are what they say they are, and that includes being pricey!
Dovo Green - 6 micron
Dovo Red (tube, not hard paste) is 2 to 4 micron
Ok, for what I need help on:
Dovo hard pastes:
Is the red package a 5 or 6 micron, or what?
Is the black .25 or something else?
I ordered a 4-sided paddle strop from Tony (and a hanging strop), and I would like to set it up properly to be a flexible and complete honing strop (I know that it can't substitute for a true hone in extreme cases). I am trying to follow the advice Randy gave me, and I would like to set this up with 6 micron, 1 micron, .5 micron and .25 micron on the different planes.
So I could go with Dovo green ($4.99), Diamond 1.0 ($16.99), Diamond .5 ($15.99), and Diamond .25 ($16.99) for a total of $55 just for pastes! :eek:
[all from ClassicShaving)
I also see this as an option:
Assuming that he Dovo 2 part strop paste is 6 micron and .25 micron ($6.99) (ClassicShaving), 1.8 micron Boron Carbide from handamerican.com ($9.50) and finally .5 Chromium Oxide from handamerican ($12.00), for a total of $28.50.
I could also substitute the diamond 1 Micron from Classic Shaving for the 1.8 micron Boron Carbide for just $7.50 more, bringing my total up to $36 if the 1.8 is just not close enough.
Are the Diamond pastes worth the extra $25? I don't want to be cheap, but also don't want to waste money either.
I know that Randy is the one that I started this out with, and that I should probably just get his advise via PM, but I am hoping that by posting out here that maybe it will help some other noobs. :shrug:
Thanks for your help!
Jim