Thread: Strop Paste

I've just got a question really quickly about stropping pastes. I've got a balsa strop that I got from Larry because he had already stopped selling the "Rich Man's" strop kit. It came with green chromium oxide and red iron oxide. I used those compounds on the balsa strop after I got my razors back to see if I could use that to get them up to shave ready standards. I like those compounds for touch ups as it seems to work quite nicely.

However, I was wondering if using something like white jewelers rouge would benefit the paste stropping process. I've used white rouge before on leather working tools to great success (you're supposed to strop swivel knives and such on white rouge prior to using them on leather). I think I even have a chunk of it laying around here somewhere. I used to use it as well during my knife sharpening process to get a good edge on my knives by stropping them. I get that sharpening knives and tools is alot different than sharpening razors, but would white rouge have any benefits in the process of sharpening blades?

I did do a search on this but never found any real definitive answers so I figured I would ask again.

Can't really say if white jeweler rouge would or not as I have not ever used it before.

A couple things you can look into that will help you figure out if it would fit your sharpening routine would be what grit/micron is the paste and is it a pure paste(meaning is the grit in the paste all the same size)

I know red jewelers rouge comes in between 3-4 microns. If the white stuff is in that range then it will be around a 8 k hone.

Well I cant seem to find a grit on it anywhere on the internet. Its the stuff you can buy at Tandy just in case anyone knows what grit they use. But from everything I've seen this white rouge is more for polishing metal as oppose to sharpening it. It seems weird because its what you use to sharpen swivel knives, but I guess that a smooth blade is more important than a sharp blade when cutting leather as oppose to whiskers. I'll probably not use it for any razor stropping, but instead may keep it around and try and make a paste out of it for polishing blades on restorations.

What brand of white jewelers rouge?

I've got like 3-4 different here.

Im not sure what brand it is to be completely honest. Its the kind that they sell at Tandy. It comes in a compressed, chalk like form. I've heard of people mixing it with oil to make pastes out of it, but Im not sure if that information is of any use.

I never heard of Tandys.

As Castell33 said the red is 3-4 microns, actually most of the rouge jewelers use are that or finer, white (normally AlO) can be down to 0.1 microns.
But there is so many different ones, search and see if you can get a link to what you got or just try it out!

Tandy is a US leather distributor. The link to the jewelers rouge they sell is:
Tandy Leather Factory - Jewelers Rouge



This is also off topic, but I also found a paddle strop at Tandy. I was wondering if you could use the flesh side of leather as oppose to the smooth side of the leather as another strop comparable to linen or something like that?
Tandy Leather Factory - Leather Strop w/Wood Handle

Sorry, I think only Tandy knows about their paste, mail them and ask.

I don't like using the flesh side at all, but some do.