Printable View
i took the advise of trying some stropping on newspaper. last nite the 6/8 wacker 1/4 hollow was stropped 100 newspaper and when i started to strop it on the leather it was singing more than it ever had before. after 100 laps on the leather it was on to the shave test. OMG this razor has never been so smooth and so sharp at the same time, it sounded like i was shaving with a full hollow,BBS. thanks for the tips!! give it a try.
Glad to hear it worked for you... thanks for keeping us posted
Yep! Stropping on newspaper has helped my razors a lot, shaves have been smoother and closer with less irritation.
Good job! I keep an old newspaper in my kit just for that reason.
Pelkey
Ok, I have never heard of this. Why is it good to strop on newspaper? Won't the ink get on the blade?
The ink's never been a problem for me (you're working dry of course). The newsprint has a very fine texture to it, much the same as stropping on a red jeweler's rouge strop. It has a polishing effect which refines the edge by removing any remaining wire left from honing.
Pelkey
Newspaper has held a place in my honing regimen for a long time now. I love it. You can't overhone on it. Here is my process that I've used many times:
I look for either the comics section or the movie section, something with a lot of ink (no it doesn't get on the razor just as it doesn't get on glass if you polish a mirror or window with newspaper).
I use two sheets ("two-ply") and select a flat surface to tape it down to. Usually for me, it's my Chinese 12k stone. I wrap the newspaper sheets very tightly around the stone's top and then the sides taping each edge of the paper to the bottom of the stone. Sometimes you have to re-stretch before you tape down to make sure there are no wrinkles on the surface. For me, two sheets gives just the right amount of cushion. I do not use more than two sheets because too many sheets, I've found can cause edge rounding.
Then, it's stropping time (edge trailing). 50 passes are good to start. I do this after polishing on my last hone/stone. Then it's test shave. If I feel I want to try for an improvement, I go back to the newspaper and go 100 passes. After newspaper I always strop on plain leather before a shave.
I once took a razor and stropped on newspaper for 100 passes then shaved. I shaved with the same razor each morning, and each night I stropped another 100 passes. At the end of the week, 700 passes overall on newspaper on one razor. No negative effects. Neither, however, did the razor get "7 times sharper":) Each shave was super from the first day to the last.
***Make sure the flat surface is TOTALLY clean. Even the smallest grit, speck, etc will be felt when stropping on the newspaper. Not good.
Chris L
So are you using newspaper instead of a leather strop? Or as a post honing tool prior to a normal strop?
Personally, I use newspaper as the last honing step prior to the pre-shave strop on leather.
Some do go from newspaper straight to a shave though. Some people use newspaper more like an actual strop in that they fold sections of newspaper into essentially a paddle strop which is not taped down to anything, the newspaper is the entire mechanism. I've heard of others hanging a folded newspaper strop from a doorknob or hook and using it as a hanging strop.
So many variations.
Chris L
That's what I love about shaving with a str8; so many variations for lathering, sharpening, stropping, whatever works best for you. With a little imagination there is a world of experimenting to explore.......what a journey!
Has anyone had experience with hot press artist paper which is actually 100% rag content [acid free]. No wood pulp at all. Sort of like stropping on denim only the surface is much finer.
You can also sprinkle .5 micron CrOx dust or paste or diamond spray or cerium oxide or yellow bar on a piece of 80lb. or 100 lb. hot press paper. It does a nice job and again, there is no wood pulp in this paper. It is made of fabric like cotton, linen and other natural fibers. A. C. Moore and most other art supply stores carry 100% rag paper.
It is often identified by the term "acid free" pH neutral. Hello - would that mean that newspaper has an acid content? Can this be good for you razor's edge? Like FOX NEWS, we report, you decide!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Give it a try............:)
I've been hearing a lot about this particular method of stropping, so I've decided to give it a try. I've got a Wacker thats shaving well, but I would just like to tweak the edge very slightly and take out the little bit of harshness thats still there.
I've picked up a Metro today that has an advert in it with a lot of ink on it, so I'll use that part.
How many passes do you guys do? I've read in a few threads of people doing 100+ passes on newspaper.
i did 100 newspaper & 100 leather, let us know the results!Quote:
Originally Posted by Stubear
As I understand it the reason for the effectiveness of the newsprint stropping is the very slight abrasivesness of the ink. Perhaps it includes the testure of the paper, but the assessment is the more ink on the newsprint, the better the strop effectiveness. Guesses are that the newspaper strop is rated at about a 100K grit equivalent.Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsell63
:beer2:
I have used newsprint for some while now. I wrap it around the Shapton glass hone and tape it underneath. Works well.
It sure is fun to get "edge-u-kated" on SRP............:)
Thanks for this thread.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsell63
..........:gaah::gaah::gaah: :rofl2:
Instead of the newspaper (charcoal? carbon in ink?) step I have substituted using 0.09 micron ferrous oxide from Kremer Pigments with very nice results.
Interestingly, rouge is mentioned above. From a dictionary definition for rouge...
A red amorphous powder consisting of ferric oxide. It is used in polishing glass, metal, or gems, and as a cosmetic, etc. Called also crocus, jeweler's rouge, etc.
Another alternative...
I tried newspaper today after touch up on 12k. Unlike many others, I didn't wrap or tape it onto a flat surface. My TI Silverwing has slight smile on its edge, so I made hanging strop by cutting approximately 4 inch wide stripe from newspaper. I taped my paperstrop on the edge of my kitchen table. I had few sheets of paper together so I was able pull it taut without tearing it.
I did 200 strokes on paperstrop and finished with 50 laps on latigo and other 50 on cowhide. The shave was very smooth and close. I would say that the newspaper really was useful between stone and leather.
On pasted strops, especially with diamond pastes, there's always danger of overhoning. They can also ruin the bevel shape when used regularly. But with paper you can't overhone, unless you do thousands of laps on it. Plus newspaper is practically free:)
IME chrom-ox on a flat bed hone with felt is very good to remove a harsh feel from an edge.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oglethorpe
+1. After playing with a bunch of finishers, I know a few stones that I like to shave off of and a few I prefer to hit the CrOx after. I won't do too many laps though - maybe 5 - and I'm using the back of my Filly strop, not a paddle or balsa.Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyHAD
I worked 30 years in a postal plan as a technician and I had to replace many pieces of metal because of the letters that were making grooves into the metal and also making some parts as sharp as a knife. I know because I cut myself a couple of times on these metal parts... :rant:
So yes, paper is abrasive. From what I learned on a wood carving forum, paper is a good last step for carving knives and the ink serves as a lubricant. But I never used leather without compound on my knives, so I don't know how it compare to paper for stropping.
It seems that everything I learn about stropping a staright will serve me for my wood carving knives :cool:
Gilles
I've used paper for finish stropping blades for many, many years and have recommended it for a number of years here and back when I was running a forum of my own. Almost ANY paper works, but newspaper is both cheap and very well suited. Even white printer paper will work, but... again, I think newspaper is just about ideal. It's also great for polishing mirrors. Paper is more agressive than leather and years ago I used to polish my hunting knife edges with cardboard and paper because it was much faster and more effective than using bare leather.
There are many, many ways to create a bevel and refine it and this is just one very nice tool to have in the old arsenal. Paper with chrome oxide also works great and for many, many years, an insider tip among banknote engravers was to polish their gravers to a brilliant mirror polish by scribbling on paper with a common #2 pencil as a polishing surface. The graphite in the pencil is a incredibly slick and makes the paper polish like the dickens.
I'm glad to see this method is catching on because it's a very effective thing to understand and be able to apply. Think of all the tips and tricks of honing as just different tools in the toolbelt. The goal is "merely" to create a bevel, tweak the geometry if you want, and then polish the edge to as nearly zero radius as possible.
(the following is for beginners - the pros already know this)...........
To do this, you've got ceramic hones, laps, compounds, microabrasive grits, waterstones, natural stones, oil stones, diamond hones, felt, paper, leather and believe it or not, even plastic to work with. For that matter, you can hone on glass, copper, tin, aluminum and cast iron. Ceramic, copper, tin and cast iron are all very, very popular as lapping disks for gemstones with assorted abrasive media.
To be an expert at honing is simple in it's very essence.
(1) Learn and understand edge geometry. What edge geometry is best for different tasks and different steels.
(2) Learn and understand about different abrasives and media and how they affect the shaping of steel (and anything else, for that matter).
(3) Use what you learned to select and apply an EFFECTIVE media and method for the stage of the edge geometry formation/finishing that you are seeking to accomplish.
This is very basic, but it's very good to understand what these basics are and then build on them. Knowing what they are helps you know what to learn.
It works great indeed but I wouldn't use it to shave right away since newspaper ink is toxic and it could irritate your skin.
Thanks to this thread my razor is much smoother/sharper. I used 100 laps on newspaper attached to balsa wood, 40 on 3" SRD ribbed fabric followed by 60 on Latigo. Worked great. Before this I was using only the SRD strop and when the razor felt dull would use the barber hone followed by .5 then .3 then .1 micron chromium and ferrous oxides on balsa wood. Now after doing this I will go to the newspaper as the next step. But so far the razor has been staying sharp just using the newspaper and strop. Thanks for a great/economical tip that really works well.
After stropping on leather, there wouldn't be enough newspaper ink on the razor to be a problem even if was toxic as curare. If your skin doesn't break out when you pick up a newspaper to read, I wouldn't worry about the toxicity of any residue from that ink that might be left on a razor's edge after newspaper stropping.Quote:
Originally Posted by VDX
That's an interesting method, it would be harder to damage the strop with this method :)
Mastro Livi does hand stropping:
YouTube - SnakeRazor
I like to keep the Comics section in the bathroom... I get bored reading the strop:p
For the first few months of using a straight razor I used newspaper because I didn't have a strop. Seemed to work o.k. but I noticed a difference after getting a proper strop.
I herd someone mention using hot press paper which is a very smooth surface paper but what about a cold press water color paper that is what non acidic paper usually is and is of course the first choice for LSD:rofl2: so called blotter paper. But I digress, I was wondering if the texture in the cold press would be more conducive to holding onto sprays or polishes?
I just picked up a NEVA-HONE 6/8 razor and set the bevel with 1k then 5k 8k and finished on 12k then crox then ceox then linnen/leather. The test shave was sharp but harsh!! So tonite i taped about 4 pages of newspaper to the kitchen counter and stropped the razor 100 times then 35 linnen 75 leather . Just got done with the test shave and the newspaper did not dissapoint!!!! this blade was smoooooooooth !!! SO give it a try!!