Thread: Chromium Oxide paste

I don't know whether to post this on the Shaving thread or here, but here goes.

I have been getting what I thought were good shaves for months. Only trouble spot was my chin. It always took lots of "hacking around" at different angles and most of the time ended up red and touchy for a couple of hours. Well, last night I did 20 or so laps on a chromium oxide pasted leather bench hone. Wow! This morning a normal 2 pass shave even on the chin and slick as a whistle all over. And I noticed that on the second pass I could not hear the blade cutting whiskers.

Are most people able to get this sharpness on a hone? And since I am the type who figures if a little is good, a lot is better, how much is enough on the pasted strop?

Vern

Chromium oxide will improve your shave significantly. If you're satisfied with your shave results, leave it as is and refresh periodically.
The other option is to do another 10 strokes, test-shave, then another etc etc etc, until you get to the point where the shave performance isn't improving. The problem is that you could develop a wire edge and need to take the razor back to the Norton for a bit of lovin'.

I don't have a set number of laps. I use two products from HandAmerican. I start with the boron carbide paste, wipe the razor, hit the chromium oxide paste, wipe, strop as normal. I go by the sound & feel. When one of my razors needs a little time on the paste, there is a noticeable sound present when I start, sort of raspy, gritty... I don't know how else to describe it, but it isn't present on the plain leather. Once this sound fades to smoothness, I proceed to the next step. These will really polish an edge up nicely.

I frequenty experience exactly the same thing, Vern. I think you're on target.

X

Thanks, everybody. I'll try to refrain from the "more is better" syndrome with the pasted strop.

Vern

Some guys can get this level of sharp on a hone. Lynn can for sure, the two blades I've gotten from lynn smoked my best results on a hone and nearly everything I've done on chrome oxide for that matter.

Chrome oxide makes a hero out of just about anybody, which is part of why it's so addictive, and partly why it's not necessarily a good thing to have available when you're first learning honing. It's a crutch - you can get a poorly honed razor shaving sharp with chrome oxide but you can get a well-honed razor spooky sharp on chrome oxide. It's easy to get complacent and get sloppy on the hones, because the chrome oxide will get it sharp anyway. I occasionally go through periods where I stop using the paddles and try and match that level of edge using just the hones, and sometimes I get pretty close.

MParker,

I know this is hard to do, but could you elaborate a bit on how you judge sharpness? Do you bother with the HHT? What do you look for in a "successful" shave test?

I'm able to get edges that pass the HHT very well off the 8K, and they shave me pretty well. But my beard is tough, and I find that I can't get an irritation-free shave on my chin unless I go to .5 micron diamond paste on a leather paddle for at least 20 to 30 laps.

I think there's more sharpness to squeeze out of the Norton 8K, and I'm still improving. Can you shave straight off the Norton without any irritation?

I identify with what you're saying about getting lazy with the hones, and I hope to continue my improvement in that area.

Josh

I'm not the best guy to ask about this. But I don't use the HHT - the hair on my head is very very fine and even the feather won't pass the HHT with it. I use my arm hair, I just touch the hairs a millimeter or so above the skin and see if they pop. I use the hair on the inside of my arm because it seems to correlate better with the level of sharpness I want. I also use the thumb pad test. But ultimately the shave test is the important one. I've got a pretty tough beard and get noticeable pulling even with the feather AC, so that's really where I see how sharp the blade really is. Shaving with the grain isn't too critical pull-wise, the only thing I'm looking for here is how much stubble is left. The real test is across the grain on my chin (toughest hair, and toughest part to shave in general), and against the grain under my jaw.

I should also mention that I'm using the armhair test less and less because I'm getting better at feeling the fin forming up on the hones. I can't feel this on the norton, which is one reason I don't use it much anymore, but the arkansas stones, tam o shanter, and shaptons really tell you a lot about the edge, especially if you're honing a smiling blade where you can easily feel what's happening at each point along the edge as you rock the blade down the hone.

Yes, I can shave off the 8k without irritation, I've done this off and on since I started depending on what else I was playing with. But I get more pulling than if I finish on the 8k shapton, which is more pulling than I get if I finish on the 15k shapton, which is more pulling than if I finish on my "The King" barber hone, which is more pulling than I get if I finish on the chrome oxide. Even so, low "pulling" or "tugging" isn't the only quality I'm looking for in an edge - toughness and smoothness are others, and IMO sharpness and smoothness aren't quite the same thing (vis the feather). My fondness for Cr2O3 (and Boron Carbide) is because they combine smoothness, sharpness, and toughness (when used on a hard paddle, though this comes at the expense of honing speed). Diamond is very fast and is available in some impressively fine grits, but tends to leave a rougher edge and IMO seems to produce a less stable edge at similar grits.

I have been comparing Aluminium oxide lapping films with CrO and find CrO gives a much better finish.

For clarity;

Dichromium Trioxide (Cr2O3), commonly called Chromium Oxide, Chrome Oxide and sometimes Chromic oxide is, I believe, the is the substance we are using.

Chromium Dioxide (CrO2) which is also sometimes referred to as Chromium Oxide, is a magnetic substance used to make audio cassettes.

I suppose we could write it in short form as CrO, but CrO2 is just the wrong stuff.

X