Chromium oxide powder use and routine

[July10newbie]

Hello Gentlemen!

I’ve done about 10 to 15 shaves with the straight now.
My strop has leather on one and a rougher material on the second stop. The backside of the second strop has chromium oxide powder on it.

What is the recommended routine of stropping when using the chromium oxide?
For example, how many shaves do I do just using the rough strop followed by the leather strop before moving on to the need to use the chromium oxide side of the strop?

And, once I use the chromium oxide side of the strop, what is the actual routine and how many strokes? Do I follow it with leather stropping and how many strokes for that? Or do I follow it with the other rough side of the strop before leather stropping it and how many strokes for that?

In short, what is the routine when using the chromium oxide side of the strop?
Thanks again for your responses!

[RezDog]

I hate to say it, but not all CrOx is the same.
Let’s say that you have a very high grade of CrOx and it is very sparingly applied to your strop. It appears that you are a new shaver. That makes a slight difference because poor shaving technique tends to be a little more hard on the edge. It is likely that you will need to refresh sooner, and as your experience gains you will need to refresh less. How much to strop when is wildly debated amongst users. So we need to bear in mind this is one persons perspective. I strop a lot. I strop fifty passes on linen and 100 on leather before every shave. I may strop more than I need too. I do it all the same. If my razor starts to show the slightest sign of not giving a great shave, even before it tugs, I would do ten passes on my pasted strop, clean it, the. Do my regular stropping routine. If after three shaves, and three attempts to bring my edge back to its glory, if it was unsuccessful I would consider getting together with someone to get some honing refreshed or perhaps sending it to someone. We all eventually figure out our routines, so this is not cast in stone advice, but a good place to start. My thoughts are a little frequently is better than a lot I frequently when it comes to freshening up an edge.

[jfk742]

I find chromium oxide to be the first stop for when an edge starts to pull and stropping feels like it isn’t effective enough anymore. I do 5-7 laps on a pasted strop. If it needs anything more than that I take it to the hones. I would start conservatively with the pasted strop. For me there’s a fine line with chromium oxide. The difference for me is as little as 3-4 laps too many on the pasted strop. I do have really sensitive skin though, our experiences could differ greatly.

My advice, start with a low count, you can always do more laps. The shave will let you know what to do.

Always clean your blade after using a pasted strop, you don’t want to contaminate your clean linen and leather. I use a water based chromium oxide spray, to clean the blade after stropping on crox I just rinse the blade then wipe it down with toilet paper.

If the pasted strop can’t bring your edge back it’s time to hone it. Also if 10-15 shaves is what you typically get out of a razor before it feels like it’s pulling you may want to strop a little more on clean leather and/or watch your angle with your razor while shaving, too steep an angle will dull a razor more quickly and also decrease the comfort of a shave.

[July10newbie]

Thank you Gents for your advice.

[July10newbie]

"I use a water based chromium oxide spray, to clean the blade after stropping on crox I just rinse the blade then wipe it down with toilet paper. "

Please elaborate on the above quote which was posted by JFK742.
It sounds like these are two different ways to clean the blade, either with a water rinse or with a CO spray. Did I understand you correctly?

[jfk742]

Well, like Rez said there’s different grades of chromium oxide. By grades I’m referring only to the particle size. As far as I know there’s 3 different ways to get it. A spray, stick and powder. The most consistently sized and finest is the loose powder that is used for polishing optics. The others sold for sharpening are of a much lower grade as far particle size and consistency of size for a given lot.

I use both. The former I use after honing on a hanging strop, 7-10 laps, this stuff takes an already comfortable edge and makes it even more comfortable. As far as sharpening goes this is not a product you want to use as it makes no noticeable difference concerning how sharp the edge feels. You can get a slightly sharper edge but only after doing 20ish laps. Doing that many laps makes an edge feel less comfortable, to me. Others have differing opinions so it’s worth doing some experimentation.

The spray I use is SRP’s which is a Hand American rebrand, iirc. The spray is far more effective for a refresh of an edge that has fallen off a little.

In applying any paste you matter what it is, less is more. The same thing with laps, easy to do more if you didn’t do enough, pretty difficult to go back the other way.

Cleaning off the blade can be accomplished all sorts of ways. I rinse with water then wipe the blade off with toilet paper until dry. Make sure you get every part of the blade, I fold the paper and pinch it on either side of the bevels to get the edge and bevels clean. With a careful hand you can do it without cutting yourself. Afterwards I go to a clean (untreated with any kind of pastes) linen or poly hanging strop, then clean leather.

Sorry for the wall of text.

[RayClem]

With most things related to straight razors, there are lot of variables. In the case of CrOx strops, those variables include; the particle size and size distribution, the type of substrate used (balsa, basswood, linen, canvas, leather, wool felt), the amount of CrOx applied to the substrate, the pressure applied to the blade during stropping, and the number of laps. Although others can tell you what they do, because your setup and technique will be different than theirs, your results may vary. You have to experiment and find out what works best for you.