whats a good amount of passes on a chrox strop? and should you do more passes on a razor you just want to touch up vs a freshly honed blade?
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whats a good amount of passes on a chrox strop? and should you do more passes on a razor you just want to touch up vs a freshly honed blade?
freshly honed 10-15
touch up a used blade 20-25
IMO
Lynn recommends 5-7 laps after honing and he's The Man.
You will read all sorts of maintenance recommendations including phrases like "when the shave becomes substandard", "when it starts to pull", "when you notice the blade getting dull", etc. that you can refresh the edge with crox. Instead of putting up with poor shaves until you finally just can't stand it, why not do a light refresh every few shaves and enjoy consistently better shaves?
I'd suggest trying Lynn's 7 laps once a week or every 6 shaves or some such interval. Eventually, of course, the blade will need to be honed - crox can only do so much.
Incidentally, if you were to do that weekly maintenance on a finishing stone (with or without crox stropping afterward) you could keep the edge going practically indefinitely without additional honing.
rs,
Tack
I agree with both; I find Lynn's recommendation particularly useful for touch-ups at regular intervals (i.e., not waiting for the shaves to get bad). I'm also using a 3x6 inch piece of balsa that came in a kit from whipped dog. In the instructions that Larry included with the kit, he says to do 20 laps on the green side (CrOx) followed by 20 laps on the red (IrOx). Even with such a small surface, this many laps is probably intended for a blade that is "starting to pull," etc.
To the OP: You're probably beginning to notice that this is one of those YMMV things, but I would add a couple of things that I have learned from several posts on this subject. 1) CrOx is not intended to be used before/after every shave (this is over-kill and also why guys use a separate strop for paste); 2) you should use as few passes as gets the job done (this is what Lynn is suggesting in the vid), but 20 seems to be on the high end. Good Luck!
Do sets of 5 laps, checking with the TPT after every set. Shouldn't take any more than 10-15 laps at the most; my average is probably 12 (on balsa), very rarely do I have to do more than that.
IMO if you have to do more than 15 laps you should probably use a hone first.
Try different amounts. I think an important thing to remember is that it's not going to hurt the blade if you do a few too many. Play around with it. If 20 laps is working for you then try 15 if that works maybe 10 ect. There are too many variables to put a number on it. For instance Larry's CrOx is .3 microns not .5 like many others so maybe a few more are required. Play with it (your razor) and have fun experimenting. Again, you are not going to ruin your razor by doing 22 laps instead of 8. There is my 2¢.
For maintaining my razors, I've been sticking with a triple 5 routine:
5 shaves on a razor gets
5 strokes on my barber's hone followed by
5 laps on a CrOx sprayed strop made from an old cotton belt to make the edge not so harsh
Also, for fresh honing, I can only hone up to the 8k level, as far as known grit ratings. I've been finishing on my barber's hone (5 strokes) and then stropping on my CrOx strop (5 laps) to smooth out the edge. It's been working out quite well, and has been fairly close in feel to a razor I had Glen hone as a benchmark (though my honing skills are nowhere close to his).
i typically use the Whipped dog balsa CrOx/FeOx once a week...typically about 25 laps on green side (CrOx) then 25 laps on red side (FeOx) followed by about 50 laps on the SRD Premium I hanging strop (love the draw on this one btw) then finished with about 50-100 laps on the Premium IV English Bridal....this combination quietus extremely well for me to maintain a beautifully smooth shaving razor...
every month or so i will hit the Naniwa 12K for about 10-20 extremely light laps.
i have the SRD CrOx crayon that Lynn sells, the Mastro Livi one...it works very well but i prefer to buy several packets of the CrOx and FeOx powder from Larry @ Whipped Dog and simply re-apply a small amount of abrasives to my Balsa strop when necessary...very consistent results
i typically use about 1/2 tsp...which is quite a bit...but i made my own Balsa Strop...it's gut 18 inches of green stropping area on one side...and 18 inches of red stropping area on the other...so it takes a bit more to do the job than re-aplying on the standard Whipped Dog piece of Balsa...
i usually just add a few drops of mineral oil at a time while mixing the powder with my gloved finger....i just keep adding drops until the powder is well mixed and smooth...like the consistency of finger paint.....then i just use a paint brush to paint it on the Balsa...it typically stays in one area on the surface so i will then just add drops of mineral oil directly onto the Balsa wood and brush the mixture evenly over the surface....it's kind of fun...just like kindergarten finger paints hahaha ; )
i usually re-apply when i can rub my finger over the surface of the Balsa and absolutely no green or red tint remains on my finger....this tells me it's time to apply some more...
i love it so far...very cheap, easy to make a new strop if i need to...and Larry sells the crOx and FeOx powder real cheap...also when you buy them from him...the packets are MUCH larger than the small packets of extra powder he sends along with the Balsa strop
Usually when applying paste to a strop you apply then rub off with a rag till none comes off on the rag then it's ready to use. Sounds like your using way too much. Ther is a sticky on pasting strops in either the strops or stropping forum. Hth
that's exactly what i do...sorry about that i forgot to mention that step...
after i apply the paste and spread in evenly...i do exactly like you said...i use a clean rag to wipe off all the extra
The discussion on CrOx, creating a convex edge has been hashed out http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...stropping.html
Quite interesting. I learned alot. Enjoy!
I usually start with 3 laps on chromium oxide, 20 on clean HPW, then 50 leather, then finally shave test. I use the results from the shave test to gauge how many more strokes on chromium oxide I need. I recently did this with some of my razors and after the shave test, one razor needed three laps, one needed four laps, and one needed just a single lap...just an example to show how it can vary depending on the razor and that it's not a set amount of strokes.