Thread: Jeweler's Rouge

Tandy Leather Factory - Jewelers Rouge

I went to a local leather goods store and when I asked about strop dressing they said they treated their leather products with jeweler's rouge. It was $4.00 so I went ahead and got it.

Does anyone have knowledge of or experience with this product?

Well, I can tell you classic jewelers Rouge is iron oxide and it's red and used by jewelers to polish very soft metals like gold and silver. There are others also called jewelers rouge that are made for other metals. I have seen posts where folks have used it for razors however I think there are better choices out there for razors. However that's my opinion. I'm sure someone with direct experience will chime in with their experiences.

The Whipped Dog "Poor Man's Strop Kit" has one side of a balsa strop pasted with 0.1 micron iron oxide. That's probably close to "jeweller's rouge" in its effect.

Larry suggests using it as a final polisher after 0.5 micron CrOxide, so it's _really_ fine. But it _is_ an abrasive, and it will round the edge of your razor just a little bit. So it shouldn't be applied to your daily strop.

Charles

I can say this, That's not typical Jewler's rouge. It's normally red as previously mentioned, unless they're using the name loosely. Looks like white rouge, which is coarser than jewler's. I've used it to polish metals. I've been to Tandy myself. I got some of the the cowhide belt leather, 3"w x 50"l. It was a good deal, great for paddles. They also a nice scrap bin they'll let you pick through. They have all kinds of leather. I never asked them about conditioning or treating, maybe next trip.

I have some of the white rouge from Tandy. I put a strip of that and a strip of 0.5 micron crox on a piece of cardboard for polishing my swivel knife. I dont know what the grit rating is, but the white rouge removes metal wayyy faster than the crox; I suspect it is quite a bit coarser.
It also has a grittier feel and is faster than Caswell's white polishing compound.