I made new balsa strops today and decided to try diamond pastes since I've heard so much about them on here. I bought from Tech Diamond Tools, 5g syringe of 25% diamond in .5, .25, and .1 pastes. For a 12"x3" piece of balsa I used about .5ml - .75ml of paste, worked it in evenly across the surface and wiped off the excess with a clean cotton rag.
I had to hone one of my gold dollars today so I thought that would be a good first. I used wet stones 3000, 8000, 12000 grit. Then the strops. I did 100 passes on each strop. Then a few light passes on a non pasted leather strop.
Shave wasn't really any better than when I used an iron oxide balsa strop.
I expected more and I'm not sure what I need to change to get more from this. I wonder if my stropping technique itself needs adjustment, maybe I need a lighter touch with the diamonds? Or if I didn't use enough or maybe too much paste? More passes?
I can't imagine I am an unwitting master of razor stropping and was so good at it with chromium and iron oxides that the diamond pastes could offer no further improvement to the quality of my edge. But for grins and giggles lets just keep that on the table of possibilities, lol.
I had to hone one of my gold dollars today so I thought that would be a good first. I used wet stones 3000, 8000, 12000 grit. Then the strops. I did 100 passes on each strop. Then a few light passes on a non pasted leather strop.
Shave wasn't really any better than when I used an iron oxide balsa strop.
I expected more and I'm not sure what I need to change to get more from this. I wonder if my stropping technique itself needs adjustment, maybe I need a lighter touch with the diamonds? Or if I didn't use enough or maybe too much paste? More passes?
I can't imagine I am an unwitting master of razor stropping and was so good at it with chromium and iron oxides that the diamond pastes could offer no further improvement to the quality of my edge. But for grins and giggles lets just keep that on the table of possibilities, lol.