Thread: advice, making a pasted strop

Lest there be any doubt, the indicates humor. Larry is an honest man to do business with and makes a wicked sharp blade. I trust him with my razors and the stubble they dispatch. He's also given good free advice to me.

I'm in business. LarryAndro sent me his poor man's strop kit and it had everything I needed. It included a small leather strop, canvas strop and a balsa strop, treated with FeO2 and CrO2, and extra compound. Bargain.

http://www.whippeddog.com/$11-Poor-Man-Strop-Kit/

I used it last night on a Torry that was pulling and it brought it up to a nice smooth edge. Just what I was looking for. I think I'm going to take the leather, balsa and canvas and glue it to a 4 sided paddle.

Goog

Don't know if anyone else uses the FeO2 mentioned by GreatGoogaMooga...

The Ferrous Oxide in the Poor Man Strop Kit is 0.1 (actually 0.09) micron in size, and it comes from Kremer Pigments. It is only slightly more abrasive than untreated leather in my opinion. From what I read, I think it is in essence jewelers rouge. Skipping details, it makes a very nice "bit of a touch up" for blades.

I hone a lot of blades, and I really like how it smooths a blade after honing and diamond on felt also. Smooth and polished...

FeO2... GreatGoogaMooga must have a chemical background with the 2 on the FeO2...

Quick! What is the valence of Phosphorus? Of Nitrogen?

I started out as an engineering major in college and quickly learned to hate all math and science. I now teach music, where I only have to count up to 4. Six, on a good day.

Your strop was the first mention I've seen of FeO2. I gave it 5 swipes on each and that's all I needed. I looked 'em over on the scope and I could see the improvement in polish.

Goog

The best results I've gotten are with balsa. I bought a simple 36-inch length of 2X3 balsa on eBay and cut it in three 12-inch lengths with a miter saw. I treated one with .25-micron diamond spray from Hand American and the other with .3-.5 micron CrO from the same source. All other things being equal -- in other words, honing -- with the help of those blocks I now get edges that I pass through my arm hair about a half-centimeter above the skin, and the hair falls down like mown hay.

In my experience, having the diamond lapping surface rigid is one key; the second is having the material slightly springy. My first lapping block was oak, and I didn't have such a good experience with that. Balsa is forgiving. I suspect denim would do pretty well if attached to a hard, perfectly flat surface.