Thread: SRD's Felt Strop for Pasting Question?

So my new strop just came in from srd. It's the hard wool felt on both sides, with the plan being to use .5 diamond spray on one & chrome oxide on the other. Is there any kind of prep or breaking in procedure I should consider before putting it to use?

Ive also considered removing one of them to replace the linen on my daily strop. I just don't like the feel of it, too raspy for me to tell if I'm doing it right, so consequently I rely mostly on the leather. They look thick enough to just use both sides of one piece for the diamond spray & crox as long as I'm careful not to cross-contaminate them during application.

Other question, I originally ordered some crox for use on balsa or leather so it's the softer, creamier type in a small jar. Should I be worried about it wanting to be applied too thickly & replace it with one of the semi-solid sticks I've seen advertised or will what I have be okay as long as I'm careful not to overdo it during the application? I've thought about possibly cutting it with a thinning agent like alcohol (evaporates instead of saturating the strop) & using an empty spray bottle I have.

Additional questions I thought of while writing this;

Just to confirm on the diamond spray, it's only enough to moisten the surface & not so heavy it starts to soak in, right? Do you just judge when it's time to apply more by the drop in effectiveness from one use to the next?

Please excuse me if these questions seem too basic. I can do my basic daily stropping fine, but this will be my first go at a pasted strop. I probably won't even use it for another week or two as all my razors are still pretty smooth.

I use an SRD hanging felt as a separate strop. There is no break in. You can use diamond on one side and crox on the other.
That is what I do. Do not over apply the diamond spray. Just moist is good and let it dry before use. You can replace the linen on your combo strop with felt but for every day use I would just use the felt as is with no treatments.
Crox is to be applied sparingly as well. On balsa I use the paste and then wipe the balsa down with paper towels until no more crox comes off on the paper towel.
I have no idea about adding alcohol to the mix. But hopefully some of our experts will speak to that.

I just sprayed the diamond on with the felt vertical and let it dry overnight. I don't think I've ever added any but I don't use it much. The chrome ox paste is fine. A little goes a long way. Here is an old tutorial by Josh Earl.

Regular untreated linen is really beneficial IMHO and I'd endeavor to get used to it if I were you. The sprayed felt and pasted strops are great when you need them but the linen is very helpful before the leather AFAIC.

For the crox just dip a finger tip in the mix , latex gloves are good at this point, then start making x's all the way down the piece of balsa adding more paste when needed( basically when you make an x and nothing really shows up) once you have all the x's done go back with the palm of your hand and spread the crox all over the piece of balsa. After your done it should look like a green haze all over the piece of balsa. If you think you put to much on you can wipe some off with a paper towel.

Ken,

As you said, you don't want to get the wool too wet. If you do it can and probably will draw up and wrinkle. I did two wool felts for the modular paddle strop at the same time and same amount. One was fine and the other wrinkled. Both were only misted and not soaked in, so less is better.

Regards,

Howard

Apply like you would spray paint. 6-8 inches from the wool felt, long even strokes. You want good coverage. I sprayed mine while it was hanging, like Jimmy said, Vertical. Watch out for overspary. If you have a garage, or a shop, that'd be a good place to do it.
Let it dry overnight, and reapply. It should last some time. It will blacken with use. That's normal.

For Crox, I'd recommend using the liquid. It's sold at SRD, and use the same procedure as I mentioned for the diamond spray. These sprays don't go to waste. You can actually use them on hone, I like to play around with the Chinese 12k w/crox liquid.

I have some of the hand american crox powder (the good stuff) and instructions on how to mix it. If your interested, drop me a pm.

Below is a video I did on the Modular Paddle which shows how I spray the felt. It is the same for the spray Chromium Oxide. You can also use the felt with nothing on it in lieu of the linen, poly webbing or cotton strops.

modular padle strop video - YouTube