Talc-stropping (French Chalk)
Hey Guys,
Well, it went like this: while lapping some of the 'Zulu Grey' hones that a few folks here have ordered from me, I was looking at this soapstone marking stick that I had bought to mark out the cut lines on the stones - I bought it from a hardware store, it's just called a soapstone marking pencil I believe (I've discovered it's called French chalk, and is not the same as soapstone used for carving etc.).
Anyways I was looking at this stick and thought I'd polish it up on the 1000 grit paper I had on a piece of flat granite. It took all of 2 swipes to make the stick flat and incredibly smooth - it's really quite soft stuff, yet it feels really firm at the same time.
But so then looking at this stick I wondered about stropping on it.. So, I gave it a go! Just light stropping back and forth on this very narrow stone (this is after some finishing on my own Zulu Grey hone).. And you know what? I think it's actually a very very good stropping material.. Smooth feeling edge to be sure, and really nice feel to the action.
So I Googled this crazy idea of course, thinking some other shaving freak must have had the same thought - and well, I found a member on that other shaving forum posting pretty much the same thing. Except there they had started with the idea of honing on these soapstone sticks - which clearly didn't work. But stropping on the polished stone I find is actually a more than viable idea.
I'd like to know if anyone else has ever tried this? Or if not, would you care to give it a go and let me know if I'm crazy?
I'm thinking now of sourcing some raw talc soapstone (this is the white type that these marking sticks are made from) and then mounting it to like a wooden paddle base - and well, you know, using it as a "Strop Stone"....
- Mike.