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10-18-2005, 02:11 AM #1Originally Posted by AFDavis11
Anyway, off to the hobby shop now! Balsa specs please?
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10-18-2005, 03:15 AM #2
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Thanked: 4I'll second that request for specs (yeah, like I don't have enough to do in my spare time). A pasted balsa travel strop is an intriguing idea.
Wayne
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10-18-2005, 03:19 AM #3
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Thanked: 4Tony:
What kind of thin leather have you tried? I just remembered I've got some thin pigskin around that I got for lining. Would this be worth a shot? Balsa I'd have to get downtown, pigskin I've already got.
Wayne, thinking 3M spray adhesive for hold down
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10-18-2005, 04:03 AM #4
I seem to remember hearing about balsa being used to remove burrs from otherwise sharp knives.
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10-18-2005, 06:20 AM #5
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Thanked: 2204Really good post!
This should start some really interesting experimentation!
Why is this working on so many of your blades? I don't know the answer but could it be that they were being dulled by incorrect stropping? I doubt that because you have been shaving with a str8 for awhile now. So, why?
No prep? Really!!! None at all??? No water, oil, nada, nothing? If so then I can only theorize that the paste used on the balsa strop was acting as a lubricant. In addition your plain leather strop may have had to much conditioning paste on it which is gumming up the edge and preventing the edge from actually cutting. Just a guess.
Abrasives on balsa wood. I have also heard of woodworker's who put there abrasive's, dry or in paste form, on hard rock maple and achieve a great edge. I have not tried that myself yet so I cannot comment on its effectiveness
I once read where the old timers would paint a flat board with green oil based paint and let it dry. Then they used that as a hard pasted strop. The green paint got its color from chrome oxide.
Hard surface,no give.... soft surface, some give.
On my pasted paddle strops i use my abrasives dry, no heavy oil, fat or wax. On my strops I tend to keep then rather dry also.
Whenever I hone I finish by washing the razor with soap and water and then "stropping" the razor on a short napped piece of cloth. This seems to remove anything stuck in the fin and also may help straighten the fin much like a plain leather strop does. In any event it does feel sharper.
I think that "stuff" on the fin degrades the shaving edge, noticably.
Just musing out loud,Randolph Tuttle, a SRP Mentor for residents of Minnesota & western Wisconsin
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10-18-2005, 09:21 AM #6
Specs? mmmm, I suppose you guys may laugh a little. I went to a hobby shop and bought a thin (about 2mm thick) piece of balsa wood. The wood was about 3 feet long. I read about this on the old straight razor place about 1 year ago. I broke (literally didn't even cut them) the piece up into 3 and put .5 paste on one piece, 3 mic on another, and 6 mic on the last as a way to avoid buying 4 strops (I'm cheap sometimes). The ones with green and red paste have done well too but the .5 has really been the champ when it came to improving a edge. The balsa wood seems to have very little drag, I thought for a long time it had no effect. It turned deep black, despite the white gray paste quickly. I have reapplied paste once and let dry just last week. I assume the black was steel residue but don't know. I typically strop 20 to 40 laps check the microscope and re strop (on balsa only) if I don't see marked perfection on the blade. Usually the lower half of the blade isn't so great (I use the x pattern). I USED to go to the leather after word, maybe linen to clean the edge, and used, seemed to reapply a slight cross pattern.
Tony, I would think a strop with balsa on one side and leather on the other would be the worlds top strop right now...not sure which I would use last now though...:-)
I don't know if its important but recently the thinness of the balsa wood is allowing it to bend just like a leather strop might slightly. I think though I have been getting good shaves with it either way, for a long time and then blowing it with my leather strop.
I should clarify the no prep statement. I typically shower first and then use hot water and oil and lather, wait a little bit and then shave. 15 to 20 minutes prep, you guys are always suggesting good prep... This works great with a DE and a straight. With a DE I can shave with much less effort. Last night I just splashed on a little water and applied some lather (soap, rare for me a cream guy). Shaved immediately just to check the edge. It shaved like I've never seen a straight shave before. Almost effortless.
It could be poor stropping work on my part, that is always the case. But I think one of you guys should try this anyway. In the mean time my shave last night was so close I don't need to shave today. Last night I removed all the yellow paste I could on my strop. I may have to go out and buy a new one soon. It is a Jemico "Russian" btw. I believe my technique is correct though but have no way to confirm. I strop lightly, very lightly (and have tried all kinds of pressure over the last year or so). But now that I realize the leather is not improving the edge I can see why the lightest possible stropping is needed. I do not though know how I will maintain this edge, certainly I can't strop on .5 every day. Im going to try plain balsa for a while and try my cleaned strop on one of my razors after I shave with it. I only own 3 super sharp razors now, but with some honing I'll have a 4th for the experiments.
One likely possibility is that the strop is inpregnated with .5 paste and the balsa wood has somehow absorbed the paste and I'm getting a better stropping action on the balsa wood then I would the leather. Either way, perhaps two thumbs up for balsa wood stropping.
Tonight, I'll clean the strop again, and see if I can strop one and atleast maintain the edge. I'll use Tonys paddle strop tonight. His always seemed to perform better than the Jemico anyway.
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10-18-2005, 03:50 PM #7Originally Posted by AFDavis11
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10-18-2005, 03:44 PM #8Originally Posted by randydance062449
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10-18-2005, 03:39 PM #9Originally Posted by Korndog