Thread: Using slurry as strop paste

I messed around with a Thuringian as well... worked pretty darn well also, similar results.

I haven't tried a coticule yet, since I figured the spheroid particles wouldn't be as prone to fracture as the six sided particulate in the J-nats and Thuringian hones, and thus not cut as "finely".

Maybe that's over thinking it, but isn't that what this fine forum is all about?

Originally Posted by joke1176

I messed around with a Thuringian as well... worked pretty darn well also, similar results.

I haven't tried a coticule yet, since I figured the spheroid particles wouldn't be as prone to fracture as the six sided particulate in the J-nats and Thuringian hones, and thus not cut as "finely".

Thanks for the feedback. Did the razor slide over the strop effortlessy, or was there drag? With me, the razor movement is as if there is no friction whatsoever. The sharpening action is still very noticable though .

I am not sure if I follow the "fracture" thing, but I suspect that coticule should work, although if the particles are spherical, it may be a slower cutter. Do tell if you try.

I just tried with my high carbon steel razor with surprisingly nice results, even though the razor has a slight uneven spot (noticable on the thumbnail) which is going to take some time to smooth out with my fine-grit Chinese stone (I don't have a grittier hone at present).

a little powder on the strop did not noticeably alter the draw significantly IMHO.

I should probably warn people not to overdo this "experiment", particularly not if you are using slurry from the grittier water stones on your strop.

This is true for diamond paste as well: I must have overdone that, as two razors became very uncomfortable to use. For a while, my Renaissance razor was probaly too sharp in some spots, and too rough in others. Now that I have honed it a bit on the Chinese stone, and then stropped it mildly with slurry, it is sharp AND smooth and shaves like a dream.

I recently had another great experience using slurry as strop paste.

Recently, one of my newly honed razors became dull at the tip (toe) due to a slight mishap. Nothing really bad, but it felt uneven towards the toe (using the thumb), and normal stropping did not fix it. I gave it a go on the slurried strop, and noticed it felt much better under the thumb after four laps. After another four it was completely smooth and popping hairs like never before.

I shaved with it this morning, and it was smooth sailing all the way.

I wouldn't read too much into the draw thing when stropping. No different than stropping on plain leather sometimes you get draw and sometimes you don't. With any pasted strop there are many factors relating to carrier and slurry material itself which could affect how well the razor glides over the strop which may have nothing to do with the stropping or honing result.

Interestingly, after starting to use a combo canvas/leather strop in addition to very occasional touch-ups on my slurried strop (it's been a few weeks since last time I had to use it), my high-carbon steel basic Dovo razor is now my best shaver. All my razors became better with this new approach, but the black Dovo has taken the top spot from my Dovo Renaissance stainless razor. Not sure if it is the shape or the steel that makes it respond better, but the fact that my Dovo silver steel is in-between in shave quality may indicate that the carbon steel works very well with the new stropping methods.