How To Use a Pasted Balsa Strop

[steveclarkus]

I recently had a Geneva rescaled and had to re-hone it. It had a balsa edge and shaved extremely well. Last night I took it to 14k and shaved with it this morning. While the 14k was smooth and effective it didn’t come close to the diamond edge in comfort or effectiveness. I’ll fix that today. I’m playing with 14k with a couple of razors now but the Geneva won’t be one of them. I think the pasted balsa edge is simply unbeatable - even by the jnat edges I’ve used. Most likely ease and low cost diminishes its popularity.

 

[mrlandpirate]

I love the edges I with get with pasted balsa keen and sharp
when I want to play with my rocks I'll dull them on a jnat or coti
IOI

 

[steveclarkus]

Hilarious! I just finished re-honing three razors I had re-scaled. Guess what kind of edge they have now.

 

[Twelvefret]

Hilarious! I just finished re-honing three razors I had re-scaled. Guess what kind of edge they have now.

25K?

 

[steveclarkus]

25K?

You loose. 200k

 

[Twelvefret]

You loose. 200k

You've lost your mind...….LOL

 

[steveclarkus]

You've lost your mind...….LOL

Never really had much of one.

 

[kohalajohn]

I must admit Steve, I'm getting spoiled. I have my rotation divided in three. nani12, convex ark and balsa.

it's been ages since I picked up a nani12 razor, but I did today. And while it shaved fine, and gave me a shave I could take to the office, I now prefer the closer shave I get with the ark and the balsa.

The nani12 used to be just fine. Well, I suppose it still is.

the nani12 is sharp. the ark is very sharp. the balsa is extremely sharp.

The balsa is so sharp it gives no warning if my technique is wrong. I won't use it if I am hung over. If I don't feel my game is on, I'll use the ark.

And it's not the razor. To be scientific, I have a gd in each of the three methods. the nani12 gd is different than the balsa gd.

The test is what razors I keep choosing in the morning. I notice I'm choosing ark and balsa.

 

[steveclarkus]

Pasted balsa is the Cat’s Pajamas!

 

[FlScott]

Good evening.

I'm getting ready to try the pasted balsa strop. I've ordered the pastes and have plenty of balsa wood.

From what I've read it seems like the majority use acrylic for support. However, I have 3 pieces of 3 by 6 by 1/4 of glass from another project, will glass work? I believe glass was mentioned early in the thread but I haven't seen it mentioned recently. That brings me to my second question about the length. Can I assume 6 inches is long enough but it will take more laps.

Cheers!

 

[RumpleBearskin]

Glass will work, as will any rigid substrate. I used aluminum.

The only issue might be the 1/4 thickness. I wish I had used a thicker base to give me more room to grip when using in-hand. Also, a 6 inch length will make for a shortened stroke. Let us know how it works out...

 

[Slash McCoy]

Yeah what he said. If you use 1/4" glass, you should probably go with 1" thick balsa. Your fingertips will be in jeopardy. And I would NOT want to be limited to such a short stroke when it is so simple to have all the real estate you could use.

Also acrylic won't break if you drop it. It is lighter too.

I have thought this out and did a lot of experimenting. Doing it the right way delivers the best results soonest. If you want less than the best results then by all means, go for it.

 

[kohalajohn]

Fis, I think you'll be happier with acrylic that is thicker and longer. 8x3 by 3/4 thick

It will last you forever. And the cost variation is miniscule when you are talking about an inch or two here or there.

We all put up with smaller sizes when it comes to natural stones, because sometimes that's all there is, or the cost becomes prohibitive.

But if it's just plastic, we can do whatever we want.

 

[FlScott]

Here's an update from my post May 26th post. I did create 3 balsa strops using 3 by 8 inch glass. I previously stated it was 3 by 6 inches but that was incorrect. I've taken an assortment of razors - 12 so far - from a film progression through the balsa wood and these have put resulted in fantastic edges. The edges have been consistent, keen, and smooth.

 

[Twelvefret]

Here's an update from my post May 26th post. I did create 3 balsa strops using 3 by 8 inch glass. I previously stated it was 3 by 6 inches but that was incorrect. I've taken an assortment of razors - 12 so far - from a film progression through the balsa wood and these have put resulted in fantastic edges. The edges have been consistent, keen, and smooth.

One cannot argue with success. Great job.

 

[Slash McCoy]

8" is a little better, yeah. Remember, you are stropping and not honing. Most standard synthetic hones are in the 8" range and many premium naturals are up around there, too, and IMHO stropping calls for more, not less, real estate than honing. I still think you should try a 12" balsa. TAP Plastics will sell you a 3x12x3/4" acrylic block for what... around $13 I think? I don't remember. Try setting a 12" balsa strop up just for the .1u and using it post shave for maintenance. The extra thickness is another factor that makes for easier use. There are more options in how you hold it when it is thick enough to not expose fingertips. You got off to a good start, but you can up your game if you want.

I am thinking about setting up a 20" or so balsa at .1u, actually. In fact I think I will order the acrylic this afternoon. I am thinking about hanging one end, like a leather strop. If that doesn't work I might cut it down to 16" or 18" or whatever feels best.

 

[kohalajohn]

Had a look and didn't see this question before, but it must have been discussed.

Has anyone tried this without leather? Just shaving, then .1u diamond pasted balsa, then repeat? How was comfort after some time?

After all, the soft balsa is a compressive surface like leather.

 

[steveclarkus]

I’ve been stropping on .1u balsa after each shave for over a year with no deterioration in the edge but I always do 50 laps on leather. I’ve never shaved right off the balsa as I believe the leather still performs a bit of magic to the edge (if that’s what you are asking). I’m not a great experimenter so once I get a proper Method edge, my curiosity wanes. My focus is a good shave, not honing.

 

[Slash McCoy]

I tried it and I prefer shaving after a good stropping on leather. The hanging leather strop and the pasted balsa strop have two completely different functions and two completely different effects on the razor. Not saying you CAN'T skip the leather, but you will like it better with the leather. The typical stone honed or film honed edge, shaving without stropping would be maybe not torture, but definitely not all it could be. The Method edge without stropping is not so bad as that, but still inferior to a method edge that has also been stropped on the hanging leather. You seriously need to keep using the hanging leather strop pre shave. Oh, and be sure you wipe your razor carefully so as not to contaminate the leather strop with diamond.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Oh, and I also tried stropping on a thin, (1/16" thick) flexible strip of balsa in an attempt to emulate the unpasted hanging leather strop and hopefully to surpass its results. Meh. I have to give the nod to the leather though the unpasted balsa strip was better than nothing. One problem is it seemed to have a strong affinity for the diamond and would retain it and present it to the razor much more effectively than the leather strop. When I tried going all the way to .025u (Yes, that is no typo, .025u. or 25nm!) diamond, the pics before and after the flexible balsa showed the relatively (hey, this was at 2000x magnification) deep scratches, freshly made, of the .1u diamond even after 400 or 500 laps on .025 diamond. The edge after the .025 diamond was very highly polished under magnification. The same edge after the (used) flexible unpasted balsa showed the .1u level scratches. A brand new fresh unpasted balsa did not. So despite all my efforts to keep it clean, it obviously got contaminated by the .1u and maybe coarser grit diamond. It was one of those good ideas that just didn't work very well in practice. I don't bother with that any more even though I now strop at .1u diamond. The .025u simply required too many laps to make a difference, and the .1u is seriously sharp anyhow. Also at .025 there was a small comfort hit, probably due to the high polish bevel sticking to the skin. FWIW I think that is what gives the Jnat and Coti edges their commendable comfort; the bevel is not highly polished and so the suction between skin and bevel is reduced. And even under the best combination of conditions the leather hanging strop seems to beat the flexible unpasted balsa strip by a significant degree.

So yeah, you need your hanging leather strop and you need to keep it clean and uncontaminated.