stropping compound

so ive been playing with honing. I got a bunch of new stones, a Belgium blue, a set of naniwas 5k, 8k, 12k, and a suehiro 1k/6k. also got a very nice latigo hanging strop from srd with the chrom ox spray. and a paddle strop made from scrap leather and an old gate belt with some green buffing compound from sears from who knows how many years ago.

I have about a dozen vintage razors plus a growing collection of practice ones that I'm making.

I was noticing a couple things, one was that I liked the paddle strop more than the hanging strop. and that it didn't seem to make much difference as to what stone I was using.

now being new to the world of razors, I don't know yet what I don't know, so I got out the veho 20-400 digital microscope to take a look. and found that the old sears buffing compound was really rough. funny thing was that it appeared to my eye, and under the 10x loupe to be making the edge shiny and smooth looking, but under the scope that edge looked like a 400 grit edge.

so I built a new paddle strop with some very nice latigo leather from tandy, and some hard felt from hobby lobby, and used the spray and now all of a sudden the razors look way better under the scope, and shave so much nicer!!

now the spray works great as far as I can see under the scope, but it is messy and the pump doesn't like to work all that well, and when it does, it seems like more of the spray misses the strop than what gets on it. going through the search function, it seems like folks have had very hit or miss success with the different stropping compounds out there over the years. so is there a good source for a good compound in a bar form that is available now? or a better way of using the spray from srd?

I use the Chromium Oxide powder and mix it with mineral oil. You might check with Larry at Whipped Dog Straight Razor Shaving Equipment for the Chromium Oxide, not sure about other sources for it. Some should chime in shortly with other sources as it is very commonly used by members here on SRP.

Don't know of a better source for polishing compound, but it sounds like the spray is working well anyway. Have you checked a craft store like Hobby Lobby for a different spray bottle? You may have just gotten a bad one.
Can you take pictures with your microscope? Would be real interested in seeing the edge under high magnification.

I have a liquid CrOx that is essentially powder suspended in oil. I also have some very pure Cerium Oxide that I mixed with oil and put on a paddle. I also have a hanging strop with lead. They all polish up quite nice. As for shaving the cerium seems to be the very best at taking the bite out of a prickly edge and the lead leaves it more soft. I do not have optics beyond 30X so I cannot analyze the scratch patterns. In general I don’t bother with stropping compounds very often anymore, but they were a fun and I did use them quite a bit. The great edges are all built upon the foundation laid in the lower grit hones and I spend most of my time there these days.
;-)

I had the same experience with CrOx spray - spray bottle did not work well.
Have been very happy with the Maestro Livi CrOx crayon from SRD.

CrOx is used for a great many different purposes.
Forms that are not specifically for stropping, such as formulations for art pigment, will not work for stropping.
Do not buy the cheap Chinese CrOx on ebay:D

ok, it took a bit, but its kinda easy to put pics up I think.

here is the one at first with a razor stropped with the green craftsman buffing compound that was in my buffing box. I think I bought it about 5 years ago, and the stuff they sell at sears now is not the same thing.

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL60.../413612319.jpg

and here is the same razor taken back to 2000, then worked up through to the 12k naniwa, then stropped on the hanging strop with the srd spray compound and if I remember right I had the strop laying on the bench so it wouldn't flex.

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL60.../413612320.jpg

Pasted/sprayed strops are a personal thing. Some people love them (like me). Others hate them.

For a substrate, you can use leather, cloth, wood (balsa and basswood work well), or even some types of plastic. I found a textured plastic cutting board that worked well with pastes. Just make sure your substrate is flat.

For abrasives, the most popular are diamond sprays, Chromium oxide, and Cubic Boron Nitride. I have also tried Mother's mag polish and cerium oxide glass polishing compound. Ferric Oxide powder (usually 0.1 micron) can also be used.

Athough CrOx is generally thought to be 0.5 micron, some CrOx crayons and bars may have larger particles. It is best to get CrOx designed for razors. Just for fun, I purchased a tube of CrOx green watercolor paint. I do not know what the particle size may be, but I will try in on one of my GD razors to see what happens.

I am currently using 0.50 micron and 0.25 micron CBN paste on basswood, and Ken's 0.1 micron CBN emulsion on kangaroo leather. I thought I was getting great shaves with the 0.50 and 0.25 micron CBN pastes, but the 0.1 micron CBN emulsion kicks it up another notch. Bam!

Probably the most common powder used is from kremmer pigments( Chrome Oxide Green | Kremer Pigmente GmbH & Co.KG ) and is very cheap. You can mix it with water, oil, alcohol, the grease type strop paste or just use as a powder.

They also sell the iron oxide. Have used crox, alumina oxide, cerium, diamond and iron oxide. These days its just stone then strop.