Thread: A Little Bit Sharper?

I'm fairly new to honing, but I'm getting a reasonably good edge from a coti followed by a few laps on a CrOx pasted strop. I'd like to try to get a little sharper edge. I realize my edges should get sharper as my skills improve, but I'm also curious about a few things regarding pasted strops.

1. The CrOx pasted strop I have is what's left on the back of my Filly strop. While I haven't used it a ton, it does look like it's wearing. Question here is, how long before a pasted strop should be refreshed?
2. I'm considering comparing the CrOx to a diamond sprayed strop and I've got several questions here.
   1. What do people think of the .25 diamond spray? Anyone use it? Does it really improve a .5 diamond spray?
   2. If I were to try a .25 diamond spray, can I go from the .5 CrOx or should I be sticking with diamond sprays?
   3. What micron should I start with? Since I'm getting reasonably good results with a coti and a .5 CrOx, is it safe to start at .5? I've read other posts suggesting to start at 1, then .5, then .25. Do I really need this full progression?
3. Once pasted or sprayed, is it possible to clean a strop and use a different spray or paste or are you pretty much committed?
4. What's the best (or perhaps it's better to ask what's the most common) medium to paste? I see SRD's got a combo paddle strop that looks like it's made for a progression of pastes and/or sprays that has felt and rough leather. What's the difference between felt and rough leather for pasting? Is one better than the other? Is it a matter that you use one in one instance and another in another instance?

Thanks for your help.

I'll try to answer your questions as best I can..!

1) The time to refresh CrOx (or any other paste) is when its no longer effective, so it'll either be loaded with swarf (It'll appear to have black streaks in it) or it will simply not be improving your edges any after you've used it. At that point you'll need to apply more.

2) I've not used the 0.25m diamond spray, but I see no reason why you couldnt go from 0.5 CrOx to a 0.25 diamond spray. At the end of my honing progression, I do 10 strokes on 0.5m diamond and then 5 strokes on 0.5 CrOx and this works very well for me. The CrOx seems to take away the slight harshness you get from diamond.

Its fine to start at 0.5 CrOx, theres no need to use the 1m as well. If you're getting good results using the micron size you have now, theres no need to add extra pastes in there!

3) You can put another paste on the strop assuming you can get all the old paste off, otherwise you'll end up with a mix of media's or micron size. Or both!

4) My diamond spray is on denim (glued to an old piece of window sill! ) and my CrOx is on leather. I've read a few posts where people have said that diamond on leather can be quite harsh which is why people seem to prefer the diamond on some sort of fabric or felt. AFAIK CrOx is fine on pretty much anything, and I've heard of people using it on linen, canvas, denim, webbed fabric, leather and balsa wood.

Hope this helps and if you have any other questions please ask..!

Read #4 from Stubear again,,
The different medias apply to Diamond paste too,,, You can try them out on newspaper or balsa and spend next to nothing to decide how you want to paste your strops...

.50 and .25 should do the trick keep in mind diamond off balsa is the most harsh it will feel, so if you like the sharp, but it is too harsh, try it on newspaper and see if the backs it off some... The SRD felt strop is about the best I have found for Diamond...

At the risk of sounding impersonal I take you to this archived thread here by Tony Miller explaining pastes and their progression better than I could. IME I've used chrom-ox to smooth a harsh edge after a first pass in a shave test. Generally anytime I need to resort to that I take the razor back to the hones after the shave to see if I can improve it with the rocks themselves. Just a personal mission I seem to be on.

With diamond paste OTOH I started with a 4 sides paddle and 3.0, 1.0, 0.5 and 2.5. I found it left a sharp but for me at the time harsh edge so I put it on the shelf. Months later I got the SRD felt hanger and the .05 spray. I found it would give a very sharp edge but it wasn't harsh. Referring to stropping an already shave ready razor on it.

Time passed and I went back to the 4 sided paddle and got really good results without the harshness I had experienced before. I don't know what to attribute the improvement to unless it is improved technique. If I was going to buy a vehicle for paste at this point it would be the modular paddle. Variety being the spice of life I like the options offered by the modular. I've used the felt hanger and the smooth leather on the paddle. I haven't used rough leather so I can't speak to that. I suspect it has been tested and yielded good results or they wouldn't offer it.

Thanks guys. Sounds like I could try the diamond pretty cheaply by applying it to newspaper. If I like the sharpness but find it harsh, I can refine from there. If the sharpness doesn't really improve, I don't have to invest in another strop.

Go to home depot and get some free paint stir sticks, 1 gallon or 5 gallon type.

Make your self a set of different grit paddles. You don’t need much.

Then use Glen's recommendation and do the same with newspaper, 2-3 sheets paste at the half fold. Line the fold about a 1/4 in over the edge of counter or table.

The paper will give you a softer edge as I suspect the grit is imbedded into the paper and you only cut with the face of the grit.

Polish on a folded brown paper bag.

You will never get ALL the diamond off of a strop. You will be committed.

Marty