Pasted balsa Vs pasted leather

[Bazz_74]

Hi all, whilst i have time on my hands i've been playing atound with my honing set up and have been getting balsa curious. I currently finish all my honing on a pasted leather paddle strop, CrOx followed by FerOx, smooth hard leather with a thin coating of paste rubbed into the surface, so that it's almost like another hone.

Is there any likely benefit to using pasted balsa over this? or will it do the exact same thing?

thanks.

 

[gary haywood]

I think balsa would just work faster. So you would need less strokes . I also think you would like balsa . I have tried paste on just about everything and I found balsa easier to load up with paste and I kind of prefer balsa .

it’s worth trying just to compare

 

[Bazz_74]

Thanks, i may just give it a whirl.

 

[Slash McCoy]

The biggest difference is that first of all the balsa is fixed to a non warping and non flexing base, (not wood), and it is then lapped flat, and the diamond is rubbed into the grain of the balsa and not just applied to the surface in a coating. The coating would cut much faster. The grits buried up to their necks in the balsa cut slower and finer. Wiping the balsa thoroughly before first use after pasting ensures that there is minimal slurry effect. Basically if you like diamond paste on leather, and if you set it up properly, you will love diamond paste on balsa. The usual progression is .5u, .25u, and .1u, each on separate balsas. The first two grits will give you an edge that increases in sharpness but that you might perceive as harsh. But continuing on to the .1u makes it nice and smooth, and of course even sharper. However, for optimum results, the balsa must not only be set up properly, but also used properly. See the thread here.

(1) How To Use a Pasted Balsa Strop | Badger & Blade

Be warned... it is a long read and the method described therein evolved over time with experimenting and collaboration so you need to read to the end to catch all the developments. This is one of those things where it is helpful to just forget about how you have been doing it, and allow yourself to be reprogrammed to the new way and just follow and not try to innovate or put your own twist on it until you have done at least 4 or 5 blades. Then by all means, experiment, and maybe add to the knowledge base.

 

[RayClem]

Because of the aggressive shape of diamond crystals, using balsa as the substrate reduces the aggressiveness. As Slash says, you bury the diamond "up to their necks" in he grain of the balsa. Otherwise, diamond has been known to produce harsh edges.

If you are using other abrasives with less aggressive crystal shapes like cubic boron nitride, there is less need to bury the crystals.

If used appropriately, various abrasives can do a superb job of producing sharp, smooth edges on your straight razor.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Balsa is used over leather mostly because of price I would assume. A strip of balsa is a lot cheaper than a strip of decent leather.

 

[RayClem]

Balsa is used over leather mostly because of price I would assume. A strip of balsa is a lot cheaper than a strip of decent leather.

The difference in price is not all that significant.

A 3" wide x 1" thick x 12" length of balsa can be purchased for $5.29 at a local hobby store. You might find thinner pieces for even less.

A 8 1/2" x 11" piece of vegetable tanned tooling leather suitable to make three bench strops is $12.99. The strops would end up 2.8" wide by 11". Although slightly smaller than the balsa, it would still be suitable. The leather for each strop would cost $4.33.

You can glue the balsa and leather to pieces of glass or ceramic, marble or granite tile for stability. If using tile, check to insure that it is flat.

 

[Alum of Potash]

I like a pasted leather strop over balsa. For razors, that is.

 

[SliceOfLife]

You’re comparing probably the most expensive possible way to buy Balsa sheet vs a relatively cheap way of buying the leather.
I’d have to dig around but I could probably find a price per square foot for 1/16” thick balsa sheet and a reasonable grade of tooling leather... my suspicion is it’s 10 to 20 times more expensive for the leather.

None of my materials software has Balsa in it (maybe someone with solidworks can check, I suspect they do).

Leather starts at $16/kg and goes up. (High Volume)
From alibaba vendors, balsa starts at ~$3/kg. (High Volume)


Leather is much heavier per sq inch in a strop, and also requires more work to produce.

Consequently, Balsa would be massively cheaper, we're talking single digit percents.

Now low volume, Balsa is reasonably easy to get in pieces suitable for strops @ ~$3/sqft (shipped). Leather can't even get to that price in bulk from what I'm seeing.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Since balsa and leather paddle strops are semi durable items, I actually think any price difference, in the big picture, is pretty small potatoes. Sorta like how diamond paste costs 100x what CrOx costs. No biggie when you use a bb size bit every 30 days. In actual use, price is of little consequence.

I do know that I get my balsa pretty cheap from the brick n mortars, though. Actually costs more online LOL and you can't inspect it ahead of time. Hobby Lobby treats me pretty good. I get 36" long planks I don't remember... maybe $5.99 or something like that, makes three balsa strop/hones. The acrylic costs $27.52 for three pieces, 3/4" x 3" x 12" and $12 something for shipping. But the acrylic lasts forever so infinitely cheap per use. No matter how you look at it, both balsa and leather are pretty cheap. Leather by the half hide or double shoulder is pretty cheap, too, BTW.

 

[RayClem]

You’re comparing probably the most expensive possible way to buy Balsa sheet vs a relatively cheap way of buying the leather.
I’d have to dig around but I could probably find a price per square foot for 1/16” thick balsa sheet and a reasonable grade of tooling leather... my suspicion is it’s 10 to 20 times more expensive for the leather.

None of my materials software has Balsa in it (maybe someone with solidworks can check, I suspect they do).

Leather starts at $16/kg and goes up. (High Volume)
From alibaba vendors, balsa starts at ~$3/kg. (High Volume)


Leather is much heavier per sq inch in a strop, and also requires more work to produce.

Consequently, Balsa would be massively cheaper, we're talking single digit percents.

Now low volume, Balsa is reasonably easy to get in pieces suitable for strops @ ~$3/sqft (shipped). Leather can't even get to that price in bulk from what I'm seeing.

The prices I quoted were from my local Hobby Lobby store. I have used both balsa and leather from that store to produce strops. They also sell balsa in thinner strips that are 3" wide x 36" long, but the cost is still similar for a 3" x 12" piece.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Given certain restrictions, yes they can become somewhat close in price... But there's a reason guys used to sell Balsa table strops with chromox and a wooden base for $10 shipped, when a similar setup in leather is $25 or more plus shipping. The simple fact is that Balsa is a significantly cheaper material than leather. That was my point. I suspect if that were not the case, it would be replaced by leather in most of its stropping applications.

 

[KW Driver]

I think another factor with balsa is that you get a flatter edge to then strop vs.a potentially convexed edge as is often described of the variously pasted strops.