Thread: When to strop on the iron oxide/ Chromin oxide balsa paddle

Originally Posted by dixon3162000

I've also been lead to believe from reading other posts over the last day, cause i picked it up from whipped dog, the original hone might not have been as good as advertised!

I'd be inclined to trust Whipped Dog's honing.

Some guys where saying due to high demand the owner of the website doesnt hone them personally anymore?

Learning to strop properly is a difficult technique to learn and because it is so repetitive it is easy to make a mistake, hence all the nicked and cut strops even by experienced stroppers.

A properly honed edge is a very fragile thing, it only takes one unattended swipe to damage or destroy an edge. If you are using a pasted strop the potential for damage is multiplied.

Whether the owner personally honed your razor is not the issue, I would bet your razor was properly honed and shave ready, when it was delivered. How Whipped Dog provides razors and supplies at the prices he charges and makes a profit is beyond me, but I certainly would not malign him based on what “some guys” online say.

There is always a lot of discussion on honing, but a razor can be maintained simply by stropping… indefinitely.
You may hone one a year or less, but you will strop every day. It’s kind of like golf, you see the driving range filled with guys smacking the shish kabob out of balls, but every match is won or lost… on the green. You almost never, see anyone on the practice green, putting.

Crox Q & A
I found a leather product at a K mart used for cleaning car windows. I'd best describe it as the inside of a top quality golf glove, kid leather. It was cheap so I attached it to a 3 x 3 balsa block with craft glue. Barely coaser than felt. (pool table felt). I bought quality Chromium Oxide from a pottery company(They use it as pigment and a glaze for their pottery), it is pure as is available, not the 15% you get from crayon type things. I used a super-fine sieve and 'dusted' lightly with the powder. A little goes a fair way. I brushed it into the leather, then used a vacuum to suck up any excess. It tinged it green uniformly over the balsa. I'd say for a 18 inch by 3 inch balsa block it would have used a half a teaspoon less whatever the vacuum would pick up. From all I've read and seen it should have a grit of about 30-40k. I've given my razors a dozen or so strokes post a 10k naniwa finish and I'm frightened when I put my thumb pad on the blade. Normal leather stropping before a shave and I find it lovely. I think the key is not doing 50 laps on it. Treat it as a 30k stone and you get that effect. Food for thought. I could be totally wrong, but if it works?

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Learning to strop properly is a difficult technique to learn and because it is so repetitive it is easy to make a mistake, hence all the nicked and cut strops even by experienced stroppers.

A properly honed edge is a very fragile thing, it only takes one unattended swipe to damage or destroy an edge. If you are using a pasted strop the potential for damage is multiplied.

Whether the owner personally honed your razor is not the issue, I would bet your razor was properly honed and shave ready, when it was delivered. How Whipped Dog provides razors and supplies at the prices he charges and makes a profit is beyond me, but I certainly would not malign him based on what “some guys” online say.

There is always a lot of discussion on honing, but a razor can be maintained simply by stropping… indefinitely.
You may hone one a year or less, but you will strop every day. It’s kind of like golf, you see the driving range filled with guys smacking the shish kabob out of balls, but every match is won or lost… on the green. You almost never, see anyone on the practice green, putting.

Well, Said. I hone them and take them home. After a few strop and shaves a precious few return to the hones. Lots stay right in for many years with a good stropping. I call it a "strop edge". the kind most guys had back when, I think! I don't use pastes with exception of a little CroOx after honing, but I once thought that I wonder how much hone wear we see is actually paste wear? They had a 'plethora' of pastes back in the day!