Thread: multiple bench strops and compounds???

im new to the world of stropping but i have did a fair bit of research. right now my finest stone is a 4000 grit king super deluxe and a nagura stone (im going to retire my king 6000). i was thinking about setting up multiple strops to follow the 4000. my idea is to make 4 leather bench strops:
1. 3 micron diamond
2. 1 micron diamond
3. 0.5 micron chromium oxide
4. plain leather.

how does this setup sound?
does diamond spray work well with leather?

p.s. i've even heard of people using 3M micropore tape on glass as a bench hone, what does everyone think?

I'm sure others with more experience will chime in here eventually but I've only used CrOx on a leather paddle and have used that straight off an 8k Norton with fine results. Not really sure if going through 3 or 4 different pasted strops in sequence is gonna do much...to get different results from one after different hones, maybe.

Hey Jim your setup there should work good. I currently use a bevel setting hone and then 9 micron diamond, DOVO Green, Red and Black all on leather in progression and get really nice edges. I go into more detail here http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ugh-guide.html. Diamond for me has always worked well on leather but I have only used the diamond paste and not the spray.

As to the mirco tape the wiki as a guide to that here Using micro abrasive film - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Good luck and have fun

Originally Posted by Castel33

Hey Jim your setup there should work good. I currently use a bevel setting hone and then 9 micron diamond, DOVO Green, Red and Black all on leather in progression and get really nice edges. I go into more detail here http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ugh-guide.html. Diamond for me has always worked well on leather but I have only used the diamond paste and not the spray.

As to the mirco tape the wiki as a guide to that here Using micro abrasive film - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Good luck and have fun

it's good to know that you get good results using a wide array of compounds.

the tape i was referring to was 3M micropore tape not the micro abrasive film.

If you are going to use three different strops with different media and then leather, it will be very important to employ sharpness testing after each step, whatever your choice there might be, to be able to evaluate which steps work best and where any problems are cropping up.

When talking to Jimmyhad once he told me about someone who honed on the norton 4/8k and then used a progression of diamond sprays on strops and they got wonderful edges. I don't see why this wouldn't be something you could do too.

Usually you would use .5 diamond and .25 diamond but the .25 leaves a harsh edge and the CrO really takes it's place anyway. I've seen posts elsewhere with guys using all kinds of coarse diamond paste to do restore work but in my book it's a finisher so personally I'd skip the 3 and replace the 1 with .5.

Many of the EU guys are not so Hone crazy as we are...

The Dovo pastes are a good example and work great on leather in their Green , Red, Black, order

The Diamond pastes would probably work better for what you are after on leather Bench Strops then the sprays...

On SRP we tend to go more to the hones, as high as possible, then only use Pastes/Sprays as a refinement, or a final step in the process..
Some use the higher end of the Paste/Spray spectrum as a touch up step also...

Some other's look at Pastes/Sprays as a crutch to honing...

I think way more of this comes down to your face and what feels good also believe it or not I also believe it also comes down to what types of razors you tend to shave with.. For instance if you like older Sheffield edges I would bet you won't like Diamond pastes or spray..

This is all just my opinion, mixed with a fair bit of experience

Basically though you need to try some things, and see where it takes you, we can't really tell you what is going to feel comfortable on your face, only what feels comfortable on ours....