Thread: Baking Soda as a strop abrasive?

Baking Soda and water will substitute nicely for toothpaste for your teeth.

Baking soda left open in the fridge will absorb odors, but everyone knows that. If you were a tattooer, soldering groups of needles together, like we all used to have to do before China made it cheaper to buy them -pre-made, than buying packs of 1,000 and making them yourself, I used baking soda in hot water to neutralize the flux, and prevent the needles from rusting after soldering. Probably should be in the useless knowledge thread.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Baking soda left open in the fridge will absorb odors, but everyone knows that. If you were a tattooer, soldering groups of needles together, like we all used to have to do before China made it cheaper to buy them -pre-made, than buying packs of 1,000 and making them yourself, I used baking soda in hot water to neutralize the flux, and prevent the needles from rusting after soldering. Probably should be in the useless knowledge thread.

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Jimmy

That is interesting info. I use 20 Muleteam Borax soap as flux for brazing with bronze rod. Never hesitate to share what you think is interesting info. Thanks

Well, I took some baking soda and water, made a paste, and rubbed it on the tail of the razor with my finger, to see if it would have any effects on the metal. I looked at the tail with a loupe before and after, and found very little difference. The loupe did reveal some minor surface scratches on the "before" look, which I hoped the baking soda might help buff-out. Turns out it had no noticeable effect. I suspect the baking soda particles are just not hard enough to do anything useful. I guess after hundreds of laps on a soda-pasted strop it might have some sort of effect, but at that point, how do you know if it's the powder, or just the regular strop that's making the difference...

I'll keep the baking soda for the kitchen and for teeth brushing, and I'll order some CrOx or other suitable compound for the strop.

Originally Posted by shallard

Well, I took some baking soda and water, made a paste, and rubbed it on the tail of the razor with my finger, to see if it would have any effects on the metal. I looked at the tail with a loupe before and after, and found very little difference. The loupe did reveal some minor surface scratches on the "before" look, which I hoped the baking soda might help buff-out. Turns out it had no noticeable effect. I suspect the baking soda particles are just not hard enough to do anything useful. I guess after hundreds of laps on a soda-pasted strop it might have some sort of effect, but at that point, how do you know if it's the powder, or just the regular strop that's making the difference...

I'll keep the baking soda for the kitchen and for teeth brushing, and I'll order some CrOx or other suitable compound for the strop.

You have chosen wisely.

Originally Posted by mrsell63

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Jimmy

That is interesting info. I use 20 Muleteam Borax soap as flux for brazing with bronze rod. Never hesitate to share what you think is interesting info. Thanks

I used to frequent Domingo's Mexican restaurant on 20 Mule Team road in Boron, across from the mine. A very desolate place, but a fantastic restaurant, served by waiters in bow ties even for the lunch crowd But I shouldn't get the thread off course...

As far as I can make out only one person on the bladeforum suggested this as a very fine stropping compound, and everybody else who tried it on their knives in that thread said it had no effect whatsoever, which is hardly surprising as it is under 2.5 on the Mohs hardness scale while a good razor steel is above 5.5

Regards,
Neil

Neil Miller: Thanks for the numbers, the objective numbers wrt particle size and hardness is what the engineer in me was really looking for!

It can't be very abrasive or there would be word to not use it brushing your teeth. Can you imagine sanding your gums?

I've never sanded my gums but I did clean my tongue with a dremel tool once. It was a requirement
of my first year online dental hygienist course. I would recommend not drinking alcohol the night before or having too much coffee the morning of.