Thread: Paddle strop + diamond paste?

Would this work to maintain an already sharp edge? Diamond paste one side, leave other side clean?

Yep, just remember diamond paste can be quite aggressive so a few laps is only needed, also be sure to carfully wipe the spine and edge as you don't want to contaminate the clean side.

Used right ya. Maybe consider CrOX I find it to be a mellowed ultra sharp. I’ve used both, but CBN will give up a laser edge that’s pretty smooth also. Like Mark said you can’t go using a hundred laps, and do clean before using clean side. Start with a great bevel and finished edge and you can go almost forever with your paddle and leather.

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I prefer a chrome oxide edge. The diamond edge is simply a bit to harsh for my skin. What also has worked is to follow the diamond with a few strokes on chrome oxide.

Just my 2¢

Yes, but less is more. Less paste on the strop, less/fewer laps and less pressure.

Where guys get into trouble with paddle strops is using too much pressure, and/or too many laps. Diamonds cut fast, like 4-5 laps fast. You only need to polish the edge, 5-10 laps will polish the edge and about a third of the bevel from the edge back. That’s all you need. .25um is a good diamond paste, same for CBN.

If you do more laps or use more pressure you will thin the edge and supporting steel and it will micro-chip. Once the edge is polished, 4-5 laps will maintain an edge for a long time.

The good news, if you get chipping, joint the edge, one stroke on the edge of your 8k and reset the edge in 10-15 laps.

For a dirt simple and cheap paddle strop glue a piece of cardboard, inside of a cereal box to a piece of a 5-gallon wooden paint stir stick and paste.

If you start to see scratching on the bevel, the strop is contaminated, scrape off the cardboard and glue on another piece.

Having tried pretty much every combination of leather paddles, hanging strops, balsa strops, wood blocks, rubber, cardboard, seat belt, linen, fire hose, denim, and more, with most of the commonly used abrasives, my findings are that nothing works better than lapped balsa, supported by a stable glued base, with diamond paste well rubbed into the balsa and all surface excess wiped off with a soft cloth. .1u diamond gives a very smooth edge, if you use extremely light pressure, plenty of laps (I know, this goes against conventional wisdom) and a finish stage with pull strokes or else very short x strokes. The .1u will not do much for the edge without first hitting one or two coarser grits to bridge the jump between the typical 12k finisher and the nominally 200k diamond. Once the edge is dialed in, the .1u alone is capable of maintaining the edge to a pretty high standard, if you hit it after every shave. Don't worry... with grit this fine and with the diamond embedded deeply into the balsa, you won't wear your razor into a toothpick by stropping on this grade of diamond on balsa after every shave.

Sure, the paddle and diamond paste will work. It's a matter of degree. You may have to revisit your finishing stone or film after a while, though. Most pasted paddle users find it so, anyway. I haven't used CBN so take this with a grain of salt but intuitively I would say that maybe CBN would work better on a leather paddle than diamond paste or CrOx. Just thinkin out loud here. If I have a choice between plowing my razor through a layer of diamond crystals or CBN crystals of the same size, especially spine leading, I think I would object less to the CBN, just based on the regularity of the particles and the closer approximation to sphericality. I can't back that up with actual experience, but think about it. Also everybody who has tried CBN vs other loose abrasives has been pretty happy with the CBN. I will try it some day. When I run out of fine diamond pastes, which won't be any time soon.

Where the balsa differs from leather is the degree to which the abrasive can embed deeply into the grain. With embedded abrasive, the scratches will be shallower and more consistent, and there will be less chipping out of the apex. With a surface coating, you basically get sort of a slurry effect. Surface coatings can be wiped off with a soft rag or tshirt, but then what do you got left? Probably a lot more in the lapped balsa than in the leather.

I am no fan of paddles for routine pre-shave stropping except when travel, etc make it more convenient. So if I had a leather paddle and no balsa, I am sure I would happily apply my abrasive of choice or what I had on hand to the paddle and use it for maintenance or touchup. I don't think a paddle works as good as a hanging strop, for regular stropping. I think the slight sag of the hanging leather is beneficial though probably there are many who will disagree. But what I am saying is that while a paddle is probably not the best substrate for applying abrasive paste to, that is probably the best use of the paddle strop. YMMV of course. Only thing is, once you paste it, it is pasted, and it is pretty hard to go back to being just clean leather.

Originally Posted by slim6596

Would this work to maintain an already sharp edge? Diamond paste one side, leave other side clean?

I use a French-made Strop-It Supex 77 paddle strop with exchangeable plates (plattens) that are held in place by small magnets.
There are about seven differently covered plattens available and I treated one platten with the less aggressive CrOx and one with the more aggressive diamond paste and it works quite well.

Having used hanging strops for years, I took me a while to get used to paddle strops, but this particular system has some flex as the plates are only supported on their ends (think “bridge span”), which to me combines the advantages of several strop systems.

With diamond paste I always had the concern that some of the diamond particles might come off the substrate and contaminate other stropping materials, but with a removable plate system I consider the risk minimal.


B.

If and when i was playing with pastes i found cr0x to give a smoother edge for my face.

I do not recommend balsa. Balsa is abrasive, with an unknow abrasive of unknown grit. A few years back balsa was all the rage for pasting Chrome Oxide and new guys were having all kinds of issues with edges. It was the balsa.

If you are going to paste, use a known grit and of known size, eliminate the variables. Know that most any substrate is abrasive, but leather and paper is much less so than balsa.

Most guys that use a paddle use too much pressure and do too many laps, add an unknown abrasive of unknown grit, ((probably silica) and Diamond paste and you have a super abrasive paddle.

As I said in prior post, if you do go too far and the edge begins to fail, you can joint it and reset it on the 8k.

Ok, I'm stupid. What's CBN?

Also, this is what I was looking at: