Thread: Pasted Strops a rough guide

I like this post as I did buy a 4 sided paddle strop from Tony Miller when I first started straight shaving and pasted up a few sides. This thing will last a liftime and I enjoy using it. It is very effective at keeping my straight razors tuned up and with a small rotation of three razors and I went over a year of shaving with them before a stone honing was due. I always thought if I used a barber hone with the pastes, they could go on performing well for years.

One razor which has soft metal did get its bevel worn out after about 70 shaves. The shave was very rough, although the edge was very sharp. I would lap it on the pastes, feel the edge with the thumb pad and think it was ready to shave, give it a pass on the sides and Yeowwww! After I gave it a stone honing and reestablished the bevel, it shaved as smooth as butter.

Pabster

Hey guys I know it has been awhile since I posted to this thread. A lot of things getting in the way of experimenting more with paste. But I have been doing some more so I thought now would be a good time to update this thread and get some others opinion on paste that I have not tried most notably CBN but I think there are a few others.

Since my last post I have refined my method after having the bevel set. For the most part on all razors other then near wedges I have found that 50 laps on 9 micron diamond, 100 laps Dovo green, 200 Dovo red, and 300 Dovo black will bring the blade up to shave ready and keep the blade going good for a long time. Ymmv.

Now on to the new stuff. So about 3 months after I first posted this thread I purchased 40,28,20, and 14 micron diamond paste. I made a strop out of a 16in piece of 1x1 and a old belt cut down into 4 11 in lengths. Basically a mirror image of my main pasted strop. So after applying the paste and letting it dry I made a couple of attempts at setting bevels on it and got nowhere. Frustrated and not really having time at that point to give a full rundown I put the strop aside and continued doing what I had been doing which led to my refined method as I started to pay more attention to my lap counts for when I went back to trying to set a bevel with paste. So last month after once again writing in a post that I hadn't found a way to set a bevel with paste I decided to revisit my diamond pasted strop. I had just received a Rameau frame back razor off the bay that needed some love. Cleaned the razor up and decided to be very aggressive with diamond pasted strop this time as I had been a little conservative in my first attempts. I started on the 40 microns and did 250 laps , at first I didn't think it was working, I then moved to the 28 micron and did 250 laps , as I started on this I immediately saw progress as I could see the metal coming off. After the 28 micron I was able to shave arm hair at skin level with slight pulling. Next I moved to the 20 micron and did 300 laps, after this the hair was popping at skin level. Finally moved to the 14 micron did 300 laps. I then moved to my Dovo strop and followed my normal routine and it was one of my sharpest blades ever. Was passing my hht across the length of the blade. Shave with was very smooth after stropping 15 laps linen and 15 laps leather. Since that first result I have repeated this with a Erik Anton berg frame back, a Joseph Allen non Xxl medium hollow ground, a Endeco faux frameback ( German) , Gold Dollar 208, and c.w dahlgren frame back. If you haven't guessed I shave almost exclusively with frame backs so that is what I mostly have on hand.

Some other things I have learned is that if you have a blade with a very skinny tang it is best to tape the blade open to give yourself a better grip and avoid some nasty blisters. Also a leather thimble on the thumb also helps to avoid blisters.

I found my diamond paste on eBay for $4.40 a paste and free shipping. From the seller I used you can get paste from 40 microns to .25 microns so you could get enough diamond paste to set bevel and bring a blade to shave ready for about $40.

As I mentioned if any one has experiences they want to share feel free.

Going to try this method. After bevel setting and 2k paper (4k stone), I have no hair on my left hand and a big chunk gone from my calf. I look a fool, but the check method works. Best place for pastes...Ebay? Classic Shave in Ontario has them also

I am not sure for Canada where you might get the best bang for your buck. I know the diamond paste on eBay had worldwide free shipping when I bought mine. If you want to use diamond. If you want to use the dovo paste the combo blocks of red and black runs about 15 bucks USD. So if its in that ball park your getting a decent price.

eBay might be your best bet to get free shipping unless you plan on buying other stuff as shave sites tend to give free shipping over 75 USD

Is there any reason why I couldnt past a fabric strop that was fastened to wood? Will pasted fabric give the same results as pasted leather?

Originally Posted by One2mny

Is there any reason why I couldnt past a fabric strop that was fastened to wood? Will pasted fabric give the same results as pasted leather?

No reason why you shouldn't give it a shot. Depending on the material it could very well work just fine. Hard felt is one of the best materials for paste or spray and it is a fabric. I've used seat belt material out of a NASCAR race car that worked well. Not pasted but just regular stropping. Give it a try and let everyone know how it works for you.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

No reason why you shouldn't give it a shot. Depending on the material it could very well work just fine. Hard felt is one of the best materials for paste or spray and it is a fabric. I've used seat belt material out of a NASCAR race car that worked well. Not pasted but just regular stropping. Give it a try and let everyone know how it works for you.

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Here is denim on 1/2" Balsa w/cerium oxide powder on the denim.

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I caught the "pasted strop" bug a few years ago, and began maintaining my razors using a progression of diamond-pasted wool felt strips (11"x3"), which sit on a re-purposed cribbage board, for clearance. After following this "resurrected" thread, I decided to broaden that and include everything after setting the initial bevel. So, here's a photo of my freshly-pasted "strops", waiting to dry (numbers indicate diamond-paste grit, in microns):



PS: Last night I ordered a 10-gram tube of ~80-micron diamond paste, to ease the transition from bevel-setting stone to pasted-strop refining/polishing. I'll have to see: all too often, we assume a really dull razor to have "lost" its bevel, but this fast-cutting paste might do the trick, instead of a stone.

Hi, sorry for the slow response on my part been in the mountains for a week, as the other guys have said it should work fine. I really don't think the choice of what to put the paste on matters that much. As you could fine plenty of guys that will swear by one medium for paste and a whole other group that will swear by a different one. I think the key is really learning how the paste works on your chosen medium.

Originally Posted by JBHoren

I caught the "pasted strop" bug a few years ago, and began maintaining my razors using a progression of diamond-pasted wool felt strips (11"x3"), which sit on a re-purposed cribbage board, for clearance. After following this "resurrected" thread, I decided to broaden that and include everything after setting the initial bevel. So, here's a photo of my freshly-pasted "strops", waiting to dry (numbers indicate diamond-paste grit, in microns):



PS: Last night I ordered a 10-gram tube of ~80-micron diamond paste, to ease the transition from bevel-setting stone to pasted-strop refining/polishing. I'll have to see: all too often, we assume a really dull razor to have "lost" its bevel, but this fast-cutting paste might do the trick, instead of a stone.

That looks like a nice setup JBHoren.

Ps: when I do my bevel setting testing I run the blade over a glass bottle a couple times to get rid of any residual bevels.