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Thread: How "they" made a razor strop in 1916

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    Senior Member bongo's Avatar
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    Default How "they" made a razor strop in 1916

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    http://straightrazorplace.com/workshop/18504-welcome-workshop-how-do-i-where-do-i-what-do-i-answers-here.html

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    Senior Member blabbermouth JimmyHAD's Avatar
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    Thanks for that, I'm sure guys are scouring the web for crocus as we speak. Two things I find interesting, the 1-1/2" wide and mixing the crocus powder with kerosene. I guess the kerosene is a good vehicle, penetrating the hide then evaporating ? Perhaps that would also be good for mixing with chrom-ox powder ? To transfer to leather so that it didn't end up with a cloud of green dust every time you go to strop on it.

    Note that the author recommended horsehide if you could get it with cowhide the second choice. The width is puzzling to me. I would have thought 2 to 3 inches would have been the recommendation. Also, a third puzzlement, the assertion that a hanging strop will create a rounded edge over time, since you cannot pull it tight enough to avoid the wear.

    Not the first time I've read that stropping will do that, but I've seen that attributed to pasted strops IIRC, more than clean hide. For SRP members who hone their own, or even those who send it out, not a terrible burden to bear. Anyway, thanks for posting that.
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    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    Curious to know what "dry bar" crocus is. Is it something with less wax than a buffing compound, or is it something with no wax? If there's wax, the kerosene is understandable.

    figure that if a strop is pulled tight, it probably will never cause the problem described, but maybe everyone didn't pull their strop as tight as some of us do. At any rate, paying the barber to hone the razor every 6 months isn't the worst thing in the world. What do you think they charged, something equivalent to 5 bucks today, I'd bet.

    I'd have guessed 2 inches on flat strop if I had to bet at lloyds of london, but maybe the narrow version is preferred because some razors aren't properly straightened by the cutler after they're heat treated or ground (can't remember what order they do the steps, and how long you can tap the razor and bend it after heat treating).

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    Quote Originally Posted by DaveW View Post
    Curious to know what "dry bar" crocus is. Is it something with less wax than a buffing compound, or is it something with no wax? If there's wax, the kerosene is understandable.
    .
    I found this in ref to crocus:

    "Crocus
    A ferrous oxide abrasive material consisting of coarse grains of ferrous or iron oxide that is used for grinding metal before polishing. Finer grains are called rouge"

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    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    Right. The holtzapffel book describes it as iron oxide mixed with other abrasives, so it probably has a range. I'm wondering what "dry bar" crocus means vs. just crocus. If it's a bar held together with wax, it would make sense to cut it with kerosene.

    Kerosene may have just been mentioned because it was available, inexpensive, would cut the compound bar and wouldn't evaporate from the leather or hurt it

    There are still some woodworkers who use kerosene as their solvent of all things (to keep things clean, to soak/store oilstones, etc)

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    Senior Member blabbermouth JimmyHAD's Avatar
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    Years ago, reading about it in gunsmithing books, I went to a machinist's supply and bought crocus cloth. Essentially like sandpaper, and IIRC, twas in a roll about 2" wide. No idea about bars of the stuff. Our diamond pastes, chrom-ox, and other abrasives available probably supercede crocus anyhow ?
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    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    I'm going to ask someone who was a toolmaker at colonial williamsburg (and a gunsmith among other things) to see what his thoughts are about crocus. It sounds like just a mix of iron oxide and pretty much any other more active underlying abrasive. I'm assuming some of the folks on here at least have tried 0.1 micron iron oxide pigment, and been surprised given its softness how fast the razor blacks it at least until the razor is polished, but I can understand if maintenance was an issue that mixing it with silex/crushed silica or al-ox might make for a nice cut/polish combination.

    Same person mentioned they were using WOA hones to polish the silver there (at CW) and they have become harder to get.

    Even if it wasn't something commonly used for razors, for hundreds and hundreds of years, silversmiths and other metalsmiths have been polishing metal. I got chewed out one time by a guy who makes 18th century style planes when I proposed the question of whether it would've been to the benefit of 18th century woodworkers to have the ability to polish their blades to the point that we can now. He suggested the assortment of fine polishing powders, etc, were plenty common and widely available that people could've used them if they'd have wanted to.
    Last edited by DaveW; 06-10-2014 at 04:16 PM.

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    The Hurdy Gurdy Man thebigspendur's Avatar
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    Keep in mind much advice given in years gone by was not based on any real objective standard. Often time it was just someone's opinion or based on lore and rumor and barbershop conversation.

    Like Jimmy said most modern products are superior to the old ones.
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    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    I think that depends. Products sold to professionals have never been lacking, but products sold to the unsuspecting public pretty much went across the spectrum like they do now.

    And there wasn't a lot of consumer protection, so everything was "the best" or "the finest".
    Last edited by DaveW; 06-10-2014 at 05:12 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by thebigspendur View Post
    Like Jimmy said most modern products are superior to the old ones.
    Yet ancient old natural hones are so highly prized in the straight razor community.............just saying

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