Thread: .25 Diamond on Hard Pressed Wool Felt

Rather excited - getting some hard pressed wool felt replacements for my dedicated pasting strop. And some .25 diamond spray to go with it!!

I have never used either but, pastes have always done right by me. Maybe its because I still can't hone worth a bean lol!

Either way, anyone have any insights for me with respect to the felt or the .25 diamond?

If it helps - I have a regular linen strop, a regular with 1 mil diamond, and a regular linen strop with CrOx that I'll be changing to a felt as well... And of course some leather to complement.

Thanks gents.

Hi Earcutter (love the screen name)

Like so many other things in honing, I'm just repeating what Glen has kindly shared.

I occasionally use pastes/sprays - .5m diamond on felt, CBN on Felt, Crox on leather. 'Tried asagi slurry on balsa once. 'Was glad to hear you're using felt - mostly from reports that the .25m spray can get harsh. I know Glen could describe or explain it better, but all the aggressive cutting sprays/pastes are *really* easy to overdo. They're never a substitute for good stone work. When the stone work is good - they can really shine - moving the 'feel' on the face one way or another.

My use of .5m diamond has been exclusively for either really cranky/wavy blades, or for heavy grinds that end up being silent. I'm too hooked on feedback to abide w/ a 'silent shaver'. When I do use diamond, I do 4-6 strokes w/ no pressure. Now that sounds normal until you hear that the felt I use is 6" long. Subtract the height of the blade and you're closing in on 4" of surface travel per stroke. If I were to use the .25m, I'd probably test with 10" of travel, then strop and shave. Then try 10" more and see if its still tolerably smooth. You get the idea. Overdone, or done wrong, and diamond can get harsh. If it does, all is certainly not lost. You can take some strokes on your finishing stone to smooth it out a bit, or another abrasive that better at smoothness. Crox for low cost, CBN slightly more.

Glen wrote (I hope I get this right) that in order of least to most potential for harshness, the platform or substrate you use it on matters alot. If I remember correctly, it was felt, cotton/linen,leather, balsa. Balsa having the most potential for harshness.

Let us know what you think of the spray & any tidbits you learn from the process. Its rather certain it'll produce sharpness. Your thoughts on how to use to keep it smooth is of interest.

'Hope it puts many smiles on a smooth face.

Thanks brother for the thoughtful post.

I certainly intend to go minimal and work my way up if need be. I have a razor that I know well and use to test on everything (my original straight) - so I should be able to give some honest feedback when I get to it.

Truth be told, I am getting some great edges off my stones lately, and have only been using pastes to maintain my edges, so the feedback might be slow in coming. But I'll experiment as I always do, and try to report back with some long-run observations on how the felt works with the .25, and the CrOx vs the other mediums I have used. And those other mediums have been many lol - I have used balsa, leather, glass, seat-belt material lol, linen - with all kinds of pastes.

Like I said, I am pretty stoked. It will not bother me if the .25 ends up being too keen (though it will kind of surprise me as i like keen from time to time). It's the experimenting I enjoy . Ultimately, this ought to be fun as I have never gone lower than .5.

Thanks again - I will surely report back.

By the way - the pink lather comes after the ear cutting .

I used .25 on balsa before I got a few finishers. Still have it at my disposal. TBH, it works pretty well with lots of strop after!

David, read the link in JimR's translation below for an alternative view of using pastes

http://straightrazorpalace.com/gener...tml#post777909

Originally Posted by onimaru55

David, read the link in JimR's translation below for an alternative view of using pastes

http://straightrazorpalace.com/gener...tml#post777909

What a great read onimaru55. A million thanks. I think I'll reread that a couple of times!

From what I read - its not only a alternative view of pastes - but honing in general. Great read!

I use .25u diamond spray on one of those "Wood is Good" hone-strop things. I use it as a quick refresher occasionally, and the results have been very good.

My next diamond stropping experiment involves a 12x3" chunk of hard neoprene, sanded to 1000 grit (leave this in the sun for a while and it feels like creepily like skin) with a layer of what the ebay seller claims is 100,000 grit diamond compound. As soon as I figure out the right rigid substrate for the rubber, I'm going to glue it down and see what happens.

Originally Posted by earcutter

By the way - the pink lather comes after the ear cutting .

Yes! I've always maintained that I don't have earlobes, but carefully sculpted flesh. Those aren't aren't jimps on my razors, they're bragging marks for every time they've made their mark. 'Love the attitude, Earcutter. Keep on experimenting.

Just remember to go easy on that stuff. It can be too much if overdone!!