Thread: Diamond Spray on Felt vs. CrOx on Balsa

Originally Posted by paco

Thought i'd post this here since it's about diamond spray and crox.
Just bought some balsa for green CRox and Red,
Can diamond spray be applied to balsa only or does it work better on felt or other clothlike materials?

Diamond spray can be applied to either (felt, balsa, canvas,
denim on a plank, leather, leather on a plank, mouse pad).
The same is true for CrOx as well.

Balsa or hardwood is less flexible and may hold the shape
of the bevel better. Felt, cloth present the abrasive
with less authority and tend to polish a bit finer than
when the abrasive is held by a solid base. But we
are talking about 0.5 micron or finer abrasive at the end
of the honing process so this is hardly an issue.

Because fabric presents the abrasive with less authority
the bevel is not at great risk when presented with
a pasted strop (flexible).

An abrasive strop or balsa hone is best used after honing
an edge with a stone. CrOx or Diamond dust can take
an edge one step finer than all but the most expensive hones.
Both are good abrasives, way harder than steel with diamond
being the harder of the two. Some carbides in steel are harder
than CrOx.

A clean canvas+leather strop is ideal for day to day
stropping.

The cost of a home made balsa hone is low and
makes it possible to keep the strop clean for
day in day out normal stropping.

For the computer geeks out there a mousepad with a
fabric surface would be a lot like a felt or denim strop.

Thanks Tom; that's what i wanted to know. i have diamond spray on a cordoroy strop, but now i see the spray can be a bit more agressive on the balsa. Thanks again