Thread: how many chrox passes is too much?

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

Originally Posted by MAW76

freshly honed 10-15

touch up a used blade 20-25

IMO

I should explain my balsa stop is only 6 in of working area so if your pad is 12 in then half which equals Tack's and Lynn's recommendation

Originally Posted by Tack

Lynn recommends 5-7 laps after honing and he's The Man.

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¢.

Originally Posted by deejaykamoe

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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No matter how many laps you decide upon, remember to keep the razor absolutely flat on the stropping surface and keep your pressure on the lighter side.

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