Thread: Diamond Sharpening pastes

I have Double Sided Paddle Strop with Diamond Sharpening pastes with .50 micron on one side, and 1.0 micron on other side, which I buy from SRP member long time ago.
I bought same pastes from CS, but, I don't know when I must put next applying on Paddle Strop? I mean, how often?

Thank you!

Applied correctly there should be a very thin coating of diamond paste on your paddle strop. Once it's on there I don't think you will need to add more for a very long time unless you are finishing an awful lot of razors. The pasted surface will darken quite a bit as you use it. This is metal residue from the blade and is the normal byproduct of using a paste, abrasive powder or spray. The honing process counterpart would be the swarf.

This darkening does not mean that you need to add more paste. You shouldn't add more until you feel that the paddle is losing its effectiveness. When that will be is kind of hard to predict because there are too many variables. Generally you are probably better off with slightly too little paste than too much, so I would say that you shouldn't re-treat with paste until you are sure that the paddle has lost some of it's abrasiveness.

Less is always more with this stuff. It's not like your painting the surface. A very light application over the surface will do the trick.

One question about pastes:
When Diamond pastes on Paddle start losing its effectiveness, do I need clean Paddle, or something, before when I put pastes again!?

Originally Posted by darklife

One question about pastes:
When Diamond pastes on Paddle start losing its effectiveness, do I need clean Paddle, or something, before when I put pastes again!?

I don't think you need to clean off the old compound unless it was applied in a heavy layer. In that case I would scrape it off and try it without adding any more. If you did it right the first time and put a minimal amount of paste on you should be able to just refresh the paddle with a little more paste.

Originally Posted by Bill S

I don't think you need to clean off the old compound unless it was applied in a heavy layer. In that case I would scrape it off and try it without adding any more. If you did it right the first time and put a minimal amount of paste on you should be able to just refresh the paddle with a little more paste.

It was applied in a optimal layer. So, I don't need scraping it off, only put a minimal amount of pastes!? Am I right?

Is it a balsa strop? If so, You can scrub it with water/cleanser and a soft brush until clean, let it dry good and block sand it. Repaste it and it's new again.

Originally Posted by darklife

It was applied in a optimal layer. So, I don't need scraping it off, only put a minimal amount of pastes!? Am I right?

That sounds right to me.

No, this is Extra large double sided leather paddle strop.
Here is pics:

Doesn't look too bad to me. Perhaps cleaning as any leather and repasting as necessary?