I have enough Chromium and Iron oxide powders to last a lifetime of heavy use. I'm happy with their performance so I don't want to buy more products but they are messy to apply. Do any of you have some tricks to make application to a balsa strop a little cleaner?
Applying powders with less mess
- Thread starter Robert6891
- Start date
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
I don't use powders but what about applying it outside.
What about applying it with a worn out shaving brush? You could give a fabric strop a light dusting with it.
- Thread starter
- #4
Might be the way to go. I like them, but they will stain pretty much anything they touch. Pastes don't seem to do that or aren't as bad, but the pastes I have (crayon like sticks) are too hard, they don't apply well on my balsa strops.
Put a few drops of mineral oil (literally drops) in a small ceramic or plastic container, I use a Japanese Soy Sauce Dish.
With a wooden coffee stir stick scoop up a little bit of powder and add to the dish. Mix with the stir stick, and little bits of powder or mineral to make a paste the consistency of sour cream.
With your finger paint on 3-inch X’s about ½ inch wide. Let it dry and strop. A little surface build up may come off the first time you strop but it will remain in place thereafter.
You do not need much paste to be effective, once pasted it is good for years.
With a wooden coffee stir stick scoop up a little bit of powder and add to the dish. Mix with the stir stick, and little bits of powder or mineral to make a paste the consistency of sour cream.
With your finger paint on 3-inch X’s about ½ inch wide. Let it dry and strop. A little surface build up may come off the first time you strop but it will remain in place thereafter.
You do not need much paste to be effective, once pasted it is good for years.
^^^ Best advice given yet IMHO.
Powders are difficult to apply as you have said. Ultrafine abrasives are typically sold either in paste or spray form. The pastes probably contain a mix of mineral oil and petroleum jelly as those won't go rancid. They might also contain soap which is how lubrication oils are thickened into grease.
The sprays probably contain a combination of water and alcohol. They usually do not list the ingredients other than the abrasive, so I do not know what else it might contain.
I recently purchased a spray bottle of PAM cooking spray. It contains avocado oil mixed with grain alcohol. The avocado oil will go rancid over time, but that combination might make a suitable substrate for your powders. I have not tried it as I do not use abrasive power, but it might be worth considering.
The sprays probably contain a combination of water and alcohol. They usually do not list the ingredients other than the abrasive, so I do not know what else it might contain.
I recently purchased a spray bottle of PAM cooking spray. It contains avocado oil mixed with grain alcohol. The avocado oil will go rancid over time, but that combination might make a suitable substrate for your powders. I have not tried it as I do not use abrasive power, but it might be worth considering.
- Thread starter
- #8
Just an X in the middle of the strop? You wouldn't try to cover more area? These are balsa strops by the way, not sure I mentioned that or if it matters much.
3-inch X’s across the length. The problem with applying too much paste is it comes off and get on the razor, then you strop on your good leather and the paste gets on the leather. You now have a pasted leather strop.
You will never remove paste from leather.
It does not matter if the substrate is balsa, leather, fabric or paper, paste the same way with X’s.
Balsa is abrasive, there are better substrates.
You will never remove paste from leather.
It does not matter if the substrate is balsa, leather, fabric or paper, paste the same way with X’s.
Balsa is abrasive, there are better substrates.
I like a heavy application of the pigments, that is to say something that visually covers the substrate along the lines of pasted strops produced in Solingen. Suspension in olive oil is an alternative to mineral oil, mineral oil being somewhat volatile. Spoon out a little pigment on a small plate, pour out a little oil to arrive at a consistency that works for you, then gently apply things with the thumb pad, taking care to clean both the thumb pad and beneath the thumbnail thoroughly afterwards.
I've seen an underlying X-marked approach being used with congealed pastes prior to charging things with the dry pigment powder directly, but this is not something that I would recommend in the end.
Vegetable-tanned leather sanded with garnet sandpaper to 120x-180x to give it some tooth is preferable to balsa wood as a substrate for a pasted strop IMO. Same application in either case. If using balsa, it is helpful to score it lengthwise in parallel lines with a utility knife to account for expansion or contraction due to atmospheric changes.
Edit: Didn't realize that this thread originates from the antiquity of late August!
I've seen an underlying X-marked approach being used with congealed pastes prior to charging things with the dry pigment powder directly, but this is not something that I would recommend in the end.
Vegetable-tanned leather sanded with garnet sandpaper to 120x-180x to give it some tooth is preferable to balsa wood as a substrate for a pasted strop IMO. Same application in either case. If using balsa, it is helpful to score it lengthwise in parallel lines with a utility knife to account for expansion or contraction due to atmospheric changes.
Edit: Didn't realize that this thread originates from the antiquity of late August!
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #12
Don't worry about the age of the thread, new information is always appreatiated.
I just stained half my kitchen red when I dropped a very full little tin of iron oxide powder. Took a couple hours to clean up. I think I'm done with powders, buying pastes now.
I have used the suede side of leather for stropping but never sanded the smooth side. This is something I think I'll have to try.
Red Oxide powder and linseed oil is called Paint.
Seriously, when I use powders, I remove a small amount, a bit more than I think I need, into another container, plastic sample cup with lid and immediately cap the jar or seal the bag. Then work from the smaller container. You only need a little.
Any unused powder goes back in the original container. And you don’t want to breath that stuff.
Seriously, when I use powders, I remove a small amount, a bit more than I think I need, into another container, plastic sample cup with lid and immediately cap the jar or seal the bag. Then work from the smaller container. You only need a little.
Any unused powder goes back in the original container. And you don’t want to breath that stuff.
I dip the tip of the bristles of a stiff wide artist's paint brush in dry crox powder and paint the strop. Brush off the excess and all done. No mess, just tap the brush on the edge of the trash can and done.
Similar threads
