Thread: cerium oxide question

If you are going to try Cerium oxide, you should know that you want to be dealing with what is referred to as "Super Cerium". This optically graded cerium is white rather than the reddish color of most cerium’s.

Super Cerium is said to be .5 micron or less in grit size and the Yellowstone Bar that Lynn referred to is colored more white than anything. I bought a full pound of Super Cerium powder which will last me about four lifetimes.

I use it wth water on stretched denim but I like Glenn's idea of using neatsfoot oil on a strop.

You can buy it at www.deltaonelapidary.com and several other businesses if you search it.......

YELLOWSTONE STROP COMPOUNDHerb Dunkle and family have spent a goodly amount of time convincing us thatYellowstone is the best strop abrasive. They talked about a lot of technicaldetails as to why but all we know is that it works. Just a little on thestrop is all that it takes for a razor edge. 1" x 1"x 4" block.ITEM CATALOG NUMBER PRICE Yellowstone (really it is peach colored) SH005 $6.25 ea
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I don't know if SRD sells this compound. If not, the above ad is at Sharpening by Smoky Mountain Woodcarvers Supply

Hope this helps someone........We report, you decide.

Charging SRP's poly web with this stuff is the best thing that ever happened to my razors. It is awesome period.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

...But for the purpose of using it on a straight razor, you can use many of the pastes as a "crutch" to help mediocre honing...

I don't mean to make a big thing of it here, but I disagree that it's a "crutch" for bad honing. I think the pastes offer a finer finishing option than the "finishers" you can normally get a hold of. For instance, I can go from a Nani 12K to CrOx paste and get a really nice edge, and both of those are really easy to find online. Whereas the edge I get off a Thurry is great without paste, but first I have to find one available and then sneak the funding into my PayPal so I can pay for it outside of the wife's radar.

I'm not even sure you can correct bad honing with a pasted strop. Maybe you can push the edge a little better, but IMLE, if I honed a razor poorly I'll need to take it back to the hones to get it shaving really well. The pastes just don't have the cutting power of the hones.

Actually you don't need any hone after a 1k to set the bevel..

We (SRP) are a hone based forum we believe in hones/stones to get us shaving, but that is not the only path...

You can set the bevel with a 1k or there about, and go to a loom strop with Dovo Green/Red/Black and shave perfectly fine...Or diamond pastes, or iron and aluminum oxides...

So yes pastes can be a HUGE crutch, just because you or I don't use them that way, does not mean the option isn't there

Originally Posted by Bladerunner

Charging SRP's poly web with this stuff is the best thing that ever happened to my razors. It is awesome period.

I'm sure it is. So I'm sitting here with a virgin webbed fabric strip, and a bag of Cerium oxide. Now what? Neatsfoot oil seems useless - who needs oiled fabric? Water and dish soap?

Originally Posted by BeBerlin

I'm sure it is. So I'm sitting here with a virgin webbed fabric strip, and a bag of Cerium oxide. Now what? Neatsfoot oil seems useless - who needs oiled fabric? Water and dish soap?

Soap is great. Just a little swipe from a bar of Ivory should hold your product nicely.

That's very interesting, Lynn, thanks! I use something similar - stannous oxide. It is similar in hardness to cerium (around 9 on the Mohs scale) and use 15 to 20 laps. It is another good polishing finisher, and has a definite refreshing effect. It is applied to a leather strop mixed with a little water and is a white, super-fine powder.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Actually you don't need any hone after a 1k to set the bevel..

We (SRP) are a hone based forum we believe in hones/stones to get us shaving, but that is not the only path...

You can set the bevel with a 1k or there about, and go to a loom strop with Dovo Green/Red/Black and shave perfectly fine...Or diamond pastes, or iron and aluminum oxides...

So yes pastes can be a HUGE crutch, just because you or I don't use them that way, does not mean the option isn't there

I'm guessing this is a response to my idea that you can't do much more than finish a razor with pastes. I stand corrected.

Originally Posted by BingoBango

I'm guessing this is a response to my idea that you can't do much more than finish a razor with pastes. I stand corrected.

Not corrected, just a different way of looking at things...

I didn't believe it at all until I actually tried it...