Thread: CBN On Linen

Originally Posted by PA23-250

Well, to each his own, but I've never really found balsa to be super consistent w/ CBN for me. It worked for me for quite a while w/ crox, though. Probably a YMMV thing. I really need to try the nanocloth stuff when I'm not so broke. Does it have any give to it or is it basically flat?

Very OT I admit, but if it's you, how are you liking that strop in your YouTube video? Did a search for that make & would love to buy one, again when I'm not so broke.

what's nanocloth?

Nano Cloth 3X8"


Nano cloth

I finally got to try CBN over the weekend thanks to Riooso. He generously sent my some of his .1 or (160,000g) to try out.
With all the endless choices of material to put it on, I chose Balsa. Believe it or not, I've never used Balsa before, I normally use linen or a leather paddle strop for my compounds. Anyway, I happened to have a paddle with one side empty, perfect spot for my Balsa experiment.

I just happened to have a razor in need of honing as well, which I did, and finished on a Nakayama Kiita. I know very well what the edge feels like off this stone. I did about 10 lapps on my CBN treated Balsa, and was very pleased with the results. The razor (Vintage Puma Silber) had that Velvet Squegee feel to it. I got a great shave. I will definitely be playing around with this stuff somemore...

Next, I'll try it directly on a finishing hone.

Originally Posted by PA23-250

Does it have any give to it or is it basically flat?

Very OT I admit, but if it's you, how are you liking that strop in your YouTube video? Did a search for that make & would love to buy one, again when I'm not so broke.

It feels very much like velour, slightest amount of cushion but minimal.
Yep thats me, the strop is great, very different from any other strop I have tried.

Originally Posted by rickboone

what's nanocloth?

What Glenn said.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Nano Cloth 3X8"
Yep, thats the stuff

Nano cloth

Originally Posted by zib

I finally got to try CBN over the weekend thanks to Riooso. He generously sent my some of his .1 or (160,000g) to try out.

I also was gifted some .1 CBN from Riooso I haven't decided which direction I am going yet, I think I will try his suggestion of using it on my Nakayma first then branch out from there...

I actually have a Roo strop that I could use, and I am seriously thinking it might be the ticket I might actually try a full modern setup with the CBN after lapping films

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I actually have a Roo strop that I could use, and I am seriously thinking it might be the ticket

Did taping the spines not pan out for you after all? hehe, couldn't help myself. This is the first time I heard of CBN. Amazing what I learn here that I never did in chemistry classes, and now I gotta get me some of that stuff

Really loving the stuff!! Seems to work pretty good on the synthetic felt. I do 5-10 laps every other shave or so & it's working great. I can't get over how gentle the stuff is for its sharpness--it really feels like a Jnat, albeit sharper, in the sense that you don't feel like the razor will sink into the skin if you pause. I do need to remember to use much less angle when shaving, though. Can get a tiny bit rough & have a harder time cutting if the spine is raised too much, but still not too bad. A flat spine yields no resistance XTG at all in most places, for me, anyway.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Have been using .125 CBN on smooth leather, finished with my DMT 325 with amazing results.
Am reticent to use any woven material for pastes as I feel you get a rasping effect due to the peaks and valleys of woven material,(look at some under magnification) may be wrong tho.

I'm a bit late with this reply, I wanted to really test it good before speaking up

I had an English bridle strop hanging around without seeing much use, so that was what I decided to use.
I finished it with a Shapton DGLP, basically the same thing as a DMT325, and added the CBN.
(before using this method, I have been using it on a regular strop without any roughing it up)
pixelfixed's findings resembles mine, this method works like a champ.
It adds to most any edge, and is dead easy to use.
10-12 laps every other shave seems to be all it takes to really keep an edge going!
It has become an integral part of my honing and maintenance of all my razors.


Thanks for the tip pixelfixed!!

Glad It worked for you.

Regardless of whether CBN is right for any one individual.....it is interesting stuff!......isn't it?


Take care guys,
Richard