home made pasted strop

[Ltltony]

Where does one find methyl alcohol these days?

The automotive aisle

 

[Tony Miller]

Not to sound to harsh, but then what's the point? Would it not be better to spend the money on the hone and learn how to use it?

As a second thought, didn't I read somewhere that a .25 micron is equivelent to a really fine grit stone? Or would the money be better spent on a 12k or 16k stone to use after the 8k. (This is all assuming that I will learn how to use the 4k/8k and then feel that I need extra honing on a yet finer grit to finish the edge.)

Eventually any razor needs time on a hone, not just a pasted paddle BUT, most guys find it far easier to learn to use the paddle than a hone and get good results. Ideally in time one would own both, maybe a 4K/8K and something finer, say a paddle with 1.0/0.5/0.25/Chromeium or some combination of these grits.

For many honing/sharpening is part of the hobby and all the stones, etc... are important. For others it's the shave alone and the minimum of tools is all they want.

I have a huge collection of natural stones and barber hones but typically use a 4 sided paddle with 3.0/1.0/0.5/0.25 and a hanging strop for all my upkeep and choose to send my razors to my honer once a year.

BTW, very clever ideas for making paddles using commonly found materials!

Tony

 

[chem_fun]

Can the paddle or pasted leather be used in place of a 12k or 16k (or both) stone? I saw some post somewhere that gave the relative micron size of paste and it's stone equivalent. Can anyone point me towards that?

 

[Alacrity59]

Locked up in my flammables cabinet.

Methyl alcohol is methanol. Due to my research into bio-diesel, I learned that the yellow bottle of fuel dry is nearly 100% methanol if not 100%. The stuff you put in your tank in the winter to get rid of the water.

It's cheap too.

You're just trying to make me feel like I know something. Shucks.

I thought that stuff is Methyl Hydrate. Is this the same thing?

Never mind . . . just looked it up . . . it is the same thing.

 

[TstebinsB]

My two local Home Depot stores didn't have balsa so I bought it off eBay for real cheap. I should have my 0.5 and 1.0 strops made by Monday.

 

[backpackerx]

Yeah, I don't think HD carries balsa but most any craft store will like Michaels, A.C. Moore, Jo-Anne fabrics or similar.

 

[DogHair]

I had a good bit of work to get my strops flat. I didn't want to go at the balsa with anything to rough so making it flat with 220 paper took a while. Then I went up to 600. It looked flat to the eye but three of the four were seriously cupped once I checked them. I'm sure that would make a difference when stropping. Anyone else notice this?

 

[TstebinsB]

I had a good bit of work to get my strops flat. I didn't want to go at the balsa with anything to rough so making it flat with 220 paper took a while. Then I went up to 600. It looked flat to the eye but three of the four were seriously cupped once I checked them. I'm sure that would make a difference when stropping. Anyone else notice this?

I flattened my balsa with 400 grit sandpaper. I took the same approach as flattening a hone: I drew lines on the balsa and sanded until the lines were gone. I tried to make the lines go from side to side so I wouldn't concentrate on the just the middle, like in your case. I did it twice each for my 0.5 strop and my 1.0 strop. It worked perfectly. This could be an option to deal with the cupping.

 

[Tphm]

would the small tubes of 10 gram strop paste (the green and red) be sufficient to cover a balsastrop, or is it only for leather?

I mean the paste that can be found on this page http://www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk/stropsbrushessoaps.html

 

[Webro]

This is an excellent idea, and very cost effective.Can any of the UK members tell me where you can buy some Cromium liquid in a bottle.Also is there only one type of Balsa Wood? and where is the best place to get some

 

[tsenfw]

Can someone describe in detail how they are lapping their balsa wood? And what final grit sandpaper they used?

Do you have to apply chromium each time you use the strop or just initially?

 

[backpackerx]

You can lap your balsa with a perfectly flat object like glass, some cut stone, or I use a DMT hone which is perfectly flat from the factory. You just place or wrap sand paper over that surface and rub the balsa (after fixing it to the wood) against it. Draw a very light grid with pencil on the surface of the balsa so you know you have worn it off evenly when all the pencil disappears. For the Chromium you apply a very light coat and it's only done once and will last for touching up dozens and dozens of razors or more. You'd probably have to replace the balsa before ever adding more chromium oxide because by that time your balsa would be coated with metal from the blades.

 

[Bluestaco]

You can lap your balsa with a perfectly flat object like glass, some cut stone, or I use a DMT hone which is perfectly flat from the factory. You just place or wrap sand paper over that surface and rub the balsa (after fixing it to the wood) against it. Draw a very light grid with pencil on the surface of the balsa so you know you have worn it off evenly when all the pencil disappears. For the Chromium you apply a very light coat and it's only done once and will last for touching up dozens and dozens of razors or more. You'd probably have to replace the balsa before ever adding more chromium oxide because by that time your balsa would be coated with metal from the blades.

I just glued the balsa to a piece of oak, set a sheet of fine sandpaper on the glass table, used the pencil marks, and sanded it until they were gone. Worked just great.

 

[tsenfw]

Awesome, thanks guys! Oh, what grit sandpaper did you use?

 

[Bluestaco]

I wish I could remember and tell you what grit I used, but it was just what I had on hand and I really don't remember. I do know I stepped it down, so it might have been something like 200-800 (which I think would work), but I honestly don't know.