Thread: Greaseless polishing compound?

I have the full selection of greaseless and cakes. I follow the whell recommendation on the Caswell site. Which I believe has the emery cake matched with a sisal wheel. There are other recommendations on the site, such as cake progression. I do not keep my greaseless in a fridge, I keep mine in a plastic container or ziplock with a damp rag, and keep them in a cool spot in my shed. The greaseless that gets the most use is the 600, followed by the 400, and I am not sure if I have every used anything below 240, and the 240 got used a couple of time and it had nothing to do with razors. I use 3" and 4" wheels on my buffer. I think my progression goes 600, emery, tripoli, white, red. I do not use it very often so I always have to refer back to my charts. I have some red polish cake that I use for scales in my drill as well as white. I do a lot of bone scales so I have a cake of white and a wheel that is bone only, because bone is easy to stain.

Yes, good point, on greaseless.

You want to keep consistently moist and soft. The consistency of greaseless will affect how it will stick to a wheel.

The good thing is, it can be adjusted by adding or removing moisture. They come in plastic tubes, just remove enough plastic to apply. Recover and store in a zip lock plastic bag, a 1 gallon bag holds 3 tubes nicely.

I then store the plastic bags in a good, air tight plastic container. If you feel the material getting hard, fold a paper towel into quarters, soak the towel and store in the bag with the compound. I do this in the summer, in winter just a plastic bag and plastic container is enough to keep moist. You want it as soft as a tube of liverwurst, maybe a bit harder.

If too soft, leave in open air about an hour, if too hard add a table spoon of water to the bag with the paper towel and it will soften in an hour or two. Do not leave in the sun, it will melt, on a hot day. If left open it will get rock hard, just add water, it’s not ruined.

I do not refrigerate, keep sealed and out of the sun. Wear safety glasses and Do Not stand in front of the wheel when applying…

I couldn,t have said it better myself, I guess i just put it in the fridge cause theirs a fridge in the shop, Ty

great info guys. I'm taking notes. In a plastic bag and a plastic container sounds like what I can do without too much issue. Its not like I plan on doing but a few razors a year but with this RAD, that might change. Bet you all thought the same when starting out. ha.

I'm making my list and checking it 10 times comparing to all this info. I'll pull the trigger today sometime. Probably this evening before bed.

ok, Here is what I ordered... Ouch, that hurt!
220, 400, 600 Greaseless compounds
Black, Brown, White, Green and Blue standard compounds
Glu-tite
Wheels: 4 spirel sewn, 1 sisal, 2 loose and 2 flannel (Might need more Sewn)
Drill Arbor Adapter
Cartridge Roll Kit
Felt Bob Kit
I also ordered 2 bars of Green Dialux from amazon as I was told that this stuff works great.

Now as long as I can pay off my credit card before the interest jump in, all will be good.
BTW, I also bought a 12K S.S. Naniwa stone used at a 25% discount including the shipping from overseas.
NO MORE BUYING! For now anyways. ha.

Thanks again for the help guys!

Now the wait begins. Thanks to all who told me what they use and for the recommendations of storage and such.

Good Start,Ha,Ty

Originally Posted by Gasman

ok, Here is what I ordered... Ouch, that hurt!
220, 400, 600 Greaseless compounds
Black, Brown, White, Green and Blue standard compounds
Glu-tite
Wheels: 4 spirel sewn, 1 sisal, 2 loose and 2 flannel (Might need more Sewn)
Drill Arbor Adapter
Cartridge Roll Kit
Felt Bob Kit
I also ordered 2 bars of Green Dialux from amazon as I was told that this stuff works great.

Now as long as I can pay off my credit card before the interest jump in, all will be good.
BTW, I also bought a 12K S.S. Naniwa stone used at a 25% discount including the shipping from overseas.
NO MORE BUYING! For now anyways. ha.

Thanks again for the help guys!

Now the wait begins. Thanks to all who told me what they use and for the recommendations of storage and such.

Oh come on, it couldn't have hurt that much! You could have been buying more Jnats.

Personally I'd have gotten the 80 grit and skipped the (Black, Brown, White, Green and Blue standard compounds) due to what I've told you via email.

And the 1 sisal, 2 loose and 2 flannel wheels.

But as I've told you and so many others that 99.99% of Everything about Straight Razors is 'Personal Preference'.

Your CrOx is still supposed to be there on Saturday.

Have fun when it all lands

All those colored compounds were in a kit with the wheels. And the price was lower in the kit. So i picked it up too. I had forgot about the 80grit. Damn. I knew there was something. I'll order some 80grit next time as i know im going to need more spital sewn wheels. Thanks for reminding me. Better to have it and not need it as they say.

BTW, can someone tell me the sizes of these containers of compounds so i can pick up plastic containers to keep them in?

Originally Posted by Gasman

BTW, can someone tell me the sizes of these containers of compounds so i can pick up plastic containers to keep them in?

They do fit in one gallon zip lock bags.
Put them in, roll up to get rid of excess air and seal. They don't take up much room in the meat tray.