Diamond paste on latigo leather or nylon webbing?

[MaxM]

Hi guys. I am new as a poster but I have been lurking around checking posts for a few months.

Just today I received my second strop that I intend to use as a pasted strop. I also recived the diamond paste I intend to use.

These are the actual products:

American Made 3" Xtra Wide Mountain Strop - Handles - Long Grip
Diamond Sharpening Paste

EDIT: Just saw that my links doesn't seem to show? Anyway, the strop is a 3 inch latigo leather / nylon webbing mountain strop.

Now, I feel that maybe I made a mistake. I just read on some post somewhere that latigo leather is not very good for pastes. Will the nylon webbing be appropriate for using a diamond paste? Should I apply it to the latigo leather? Should I give up and buy yet another strop, such as a felt strop or so?

Please help me get BBS shaves!

[bill3152]

The paste wont get you the bbs, your technique and a shave ready will(paste isnt 100% necessary for that). But anyway the only thing I can say is Ive tried almost every paste on as many mediums as I had and settled on crox on hanging linen. Try it and see, did you waste your money? I dont think so but follow your results. I have used dia paste on leather. And it works, as does linen, canvas, balsa, denim etc.

[MaxM]

Thanks for the fast answer. Would you recommend pasting the latigo leather or the nylon webbing then? The latigo leather doesn't seem as soft / porous as some other strops, so I'm worried it won't apply well... On the other hand, the nylon webbing is pretty 'rough'... I'm just not sure what to go with.

[pinklather]

Hi Max,

There's lots of strong feelings about the topic, so don't be surprised if you see alot of them flying about.

We hear from guys w/ great skill so often, we can't help but overlook the truckload of gold they consistently give. A search will show posts from Lynn, Glenn, Utopian & others that constistently talk about how easy it is to overdo the pasted strop. Those newer to the stones tend to substitute paste for proper stone work. Its not a substitute, but when the stonework is good, they can give varieties of 'feel' to your edge that are worth knowing about. I would suggest that pastes should remain in the future for anyone not yet getting a consistently smooth, comfy shave from the 8k stone.

I don't use them much. 'Mostly to get the dumb (as in mute/silent) sheffields to give some feedback. For that, I use the .5m diamond. To me, the edge then feels a bit more brisk, requiring some good stropping. CBN, OTOH, is smooth. With both, I'm using a total of about 30" of total strop distance (10 strokes on a 4x6" pc of hard felt). That means I would have liked the shave even w/out the paste/spray, and am using it for a very minor tweak to an edge. 'Like a little seasoning to a good steak.

A couple resources that would likely help the guy learning about sprays/pastes. The first one is from the honorable sixgunner from 4/11
Glen: 4/24/11
I thought the #1 reason pastes began to get a bad rap was the use of Balsa, many Newbs were told if you want to try it out, use a piece of Balsa, now don't get me wrong, it does work, but it works too well.. Combine an overly effective medium, and use by Newbs that over apply the product, and overuse the strop, and you get Harsh edges... These same people were also using the pastes in the exact same way as you stated in your wording, using a paste to make up for lacking skills wrongly, and it can lead to harsh edges .. Note that I said wrongly, as there are many people that do not prescribe to our (SRP) way of the hones, we are a very hone based group...Always keep in the back of your mind there is another group that gets to about what we consider a sharp blade (4K level) on hones, then brings it in from there on a loom strop and the older style pastes ie: Dovo Green, Red, Black... Now before you scoff at it I suggest you try it, Bruno mentioned this about the EU guys maybe 3 years ago in a post, I thought to myself "Huh that sounds all wrong" but I tried it out, and guess what... A smooth comfortable shave happened..
For reference, the softer the stropping surface the less the effect of the paste...

Felt
Webbing
Linen
Leather
Balsa
As you move through this list, IMHO you increase the possibility of getting a harsh edge...

The next one is Jared's web page on the topic:
https://www.thesuperiorshave.com/ind...category_id=18

If at all possible, you might investigate if there are other members near you that have/use the stuff. Get together w/ them or ask if they'd run one of your blades over their slime of choice. That way you don't spend with disappointment.

As to whether you wasted money or not - that seems like a decent strop to me. The heavier draw latigo can be grabby - be prepared, but can deliver nice edges reliably.

On the strange & not so pleasant feeling of having wasted money. At some level - its not a waste - you learned something. This last wkend, I learned that the stone I tried to learn to hone with was a known dog. Its a little comforting to learn that all the frustration wasn't *completely* my horrible skill level.

Have some fun while you learn. And keep your sense of humor handy.

[eddy79]

Check out the youtibe vid by Lynn on refreshing a razor. He pastes the inside of the webbing. This way all external surfaces can be used as normal plus you have a surface to refresh on aswell.