Thread: So I thought i was been all innovative and clever but....

Red rouge can contain aluminum oxide along with the iron oxide. I don't know how common that is. I have a 2 pound stick of red rouge from mcmaster carr that has both iron oxide and aluminum oxide, I guess someone decided they needed to have a type with a bit more cutting power.

All of that said, if you try the rouge on a piece of metal and you see nothing other than the faintest spider web scratches or nothing at all, it should do just fine.

Newspaper also makes a good strop.

Originally Posted by Phrank

Newspaper also makes a good strop.

Silicon in the paper and some black emery in the ink.
~Richard

This is from the Dremel site:



Note the 'try it on a piece of scrap first' - good advice! Use your finest finish on the edge, look at it under mag noting the scratch pattern, use the dremel compound and look at the scratch pattern again. Do it a few times and you will see where - if at all - it fits into your honing regime.

Regards,
Neil

Make sure you get all that off before going to your clean leather :<0)

Classic jewelers rouge is iron oxide and it's pretty pure stuff. It's designed for polishing very soft metals like gold and silver and copper. However modern jewelers rouges comes in different compounds containing all sorts of interesting stuff. If you go to a lapidary supply or jeweler supply house you will see all kinds of rouges including some interesting stuff they won't even tell you the contents lying therein.

Interesting info thank you all

This stuff doesn't feel like 400 grit and the scratch pattern where I tried polishing a blade didn't look like 400 either but looks can be deciving

I was just going to scrap the strop I put it on but curiosity has got the better of me, so I'm going to do what Neil has suggested and hone up to a known grit and see what happens. If I can get any decent pics I'll post em up