Applying Chromium Oxide to Bridle Leather Strop

Dear Fellow Members-Just received a beautiful canvas/bridle leather strop from Tony Miller at The Well Shaved Gentleman that was created using some very nice scrap he had. Since the bridle leather has a prefabricated bow on the smooth leather side, I was advised to apply the Chromium Oxide there.
I bought the .5 micron Chromium Oxide paste from Straight Razor Designs and also bought a block of Formax Chromium Oxide paste from another vendor. Is there a certain way to uniformly apply either of these? I understand that more is not necessarily better when it comes to applying CROX on a strop. I also understand that when the strop becomes excessively dirty that one must wipe it dry?Can some type of solvent be used on the towel to aid cleaning or would this affect the strop? FWIW, I do have a Balsa pasted strop, but it uses a water based CROX paste and can be cleaned with 320-400 wet/dry sandpaper on a sanding block and the new CROX paste can be painted on. Have already done this once and it looks good.
Again, thank you for any detailed responses-GREAT forum!:rock:

You can use neatsfoot oil to use as a medium to hold the crox..in a pinch you can use baseball glove oil as well. It has neatsfoot oil in it. But use them sparingly..a little goes a long way.
If you search the wiki there is a good tutorial on applying crox to a strop.
Hope it helps.
Anthony

... and don't wear white clothes! ;)

Crox + oil = paint!

Thanx guys! Have heard of and own some Neatsfoot oil and have seen the online tutorial. Like the idea, as Neatsfoot oil is used to preserve leather and could do double duty in this application. This is the tutorial I have seen. Are you referring to this one?

Pasting a strop - a photo tutorial - Straight Razor Place Wiki

My only concern is having the paste in a block and also in a cylinder form, as this tutorial uses Crox in a powder form. Again, thanx for any detailed feedback:)-Gearhead

Take the cro ox from SRD and draw the x's on the strop then go back and spread with the palm of your hand. You may want wear some latex gloves. You could also spread with a clean rag.

Dear Castel33-Thanx again for the quick reply! So you are saying that I can apply the CROX from SRD directly onto the strop, correct? Are there any drawbacks to using Neatsfoot Oil as a solvent base?-Gearhead

A little oil goes a long way, start with that!
You can always add more if you feel it's getting dry.

You can use oil if you want to condition the strop as well as apply the paste.

But the crox from SRD is in a semi soft state already like a crayon so shouldn't need any more oil. If you start applying it and it is not spreading then I would add a drop of oil to my hand to help it spread better.

Only drawback to oil is that it takes awhile to dry.

Thanx again guys! Will keep you updated!:)

Tried applying it as a crayon and it came out unevenly:( Spreading out the lumps just seemed to take the Chromium Oxide off!:( Going to apply a little to my fingers and spread it on the strop, and then try reapplying.
BTW, how can you tell when you have enough on? How can you tell when it's dry? Again, thanx to all for the feedback:)-Gearhead.

You more or less want a green haze to the strop. You should still be able to see the leather.

Crox I normal give a day to dry

All you need is just a thin coating. If you can barely see it that is enough. You don't want to turn it completely green. and you can't really rub it off I guess if that is what you mean.It gets embedded into it. You really don't need allot.

Dear Fellow Razorheads-Applied maybe a drop of Neatsfoot oil to my finger several times after applying the Chromium Oxide from SRD and it applies much more easily now, with less coming OFF on my fingers and more going into and onto the leather. The leather strop is not saturated and should be fine in a couple of days. Surface is pretty even, but don't know if I have applied enough. Definitely not a dark green color, but the strop color is a uniform light green with a little tan "splotchyness" mixed in.
Again, thanx again for any feedback:)-Gearhead

Dear Castel33 and Aespo-Guess that I replied prior to refreshing the page. Green Haze is a perfect description Castel33! About how many strokes do you guys strop your razor on the CROX strop? Do you typically follow up with canvas or felt and then straight bridal leather? Thanx again!:)-Gearhead

Go to the crox..then to your felt or linen then leather.
As far as strikes on the crox...it should not be more than say ten to fifteen laps but they will depend on the blade on how much it tugs..

What he said

Hey gearhead,

Since you already have it on and it's just hazy, that's enough, as said above. After the crox strop, clean your blade on a towel to remove any residue that may be on the blade or you'll transfer it to your other strop elements, and once it's there, it's there. :gl:

Regards,
Howard :)

Question? What do you mean by: a "prefabricated bow" on the smooth leather? Can you show a photo?