Thread: Which pastes would you use?

If the chromium oxide red equals the .5 diamond paste in grit value are they interchangeable on the same strop? Also, where's the best (and cheapest) place to buy the chromium oxide? I know the cost of the diamond pastes are rather high so if you can get the same results using comparable chromium oxide paste and also buy it for less than the diamonds then that seems to be the way to go.

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

Joe, that was the next question I was gonna ask. So it would take about 100 passes on the 0.5 chromium oxide after the N8k?
As I keep my RAD in check and I won't have to do 100 passes for touchups, I don't mind doing it once in the blade's life-time or once a year at most.

That's not what I meant. I only mentioned 100 passes because Randy said he did that in a recent post. But you got the idea. If you go to .5 too soon you'll have a lot of work, and it can get frustrating because you may not see any difference until you do a lot of passes.

The number of passes you do on the .5 will depend on many things, including the steel the razor is made of, the grind and where it is when you leave the 8K. The idea is not to have an extreme grit jump, like 4K, 8K, 50K. You'd be a lot happier with 4K, 8K, 15K (1 micron), 50K (.5 micron).

Originally Posted by Duke

If the chromium oxide red equals the .5 diamond paste in grit value are they interchangeable on the same strop? Also, where's the best (and cheapest) place to buy the chromium oxide? I know the cost of the diamond pastes are rather high so if you can get the same results using comparable chromium oxide paste and also buy it for less than the diamonds then that seems to be the way to go.

You shouldn't mix pastes on one surface, because you never know what the result will be. You can get chromium .5 at handamerican.com.

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

Joe, that was the next question I was gonna ask. So it would take about 100 passes on the 0.5 chromium oxide after the N8k?
As I keep my RAD in check and I won't have to do 100 passes for touchups, I don't mind doing it once in the blade's life-time or once a year at most.

100 laps would only be used on the hardest of steels! When I go from the 8K directly to the 0.5 chrome oxide I usually use 30-50 roundtrip laps.

My vote is 1.0 diamond and 0.5 chrome oxide for tough beards or 0.5 chrome oxide and 0.25 diamond for those who like the edge super sharp.

EDIT: There really is no formula for the number of laps to use. You must pay attention to the edge and experiment to see what works for your razor and your face.

Just my two cents,

Thanks Joe/Randy. I've been checking my mail every day and now I have a marble tile for the bench hone (thanks to Jason). So now I only have to wait for the abrasive powder (thanks Randy) and the leather (nice to be doing biz with Tony/Dave)... Randy, how do you mix the powder/mink oil (ratios/methods) and how much would go on a 3x12" surface?

Thanks for all the opinions and advise fellas. It definately helps me see things differently, and influences my future choices.

By the way, Wouldn't leather be pliable enough to make up for any minor imperfections of the backing surface?

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

By the way, Wouldn't leather be pliable enough to make up for any minor imperfections of the backing surface?

Sadly no. What happenes is it conforms to the surface beneath it and if there are any ridges or warping the leather will follow that shape. Your razor, being flat will only contact the high spots giving less than 100% contact. In reality you will never get full contact using leather on any paddle but you need to get enough contact that the entire blade contacts the surface at some point in it's journey from one end of the strop to the other. Even a buildup of glue will give a varying surface. The leather I sent you should be thick enough to give pretty good contact.

This is the issue I have when buying hides. bumps, gouges, fat creases, etc..... all reduce the contact area and effect the final product. On the thick hides I use for hanging strops I am lucky if I get a 50% yield of "firsts". Often a hide will yield more seconds than firsts, hence the free "second" with every top end strop I sell.

For paddles it is a little better at least but lots of cow goes to waste <g>.

Tony

Thanks Tony. So what expectations should I have from a marble tile? The surface seems to be flat and smooth.

Oh I almost forgot to mention. X-man, YES!! Gravy is one of man's great gifts to the universe.