Few weeks ago I was watching a video on you tube and this guy was using some chromium oxide paste(0.50 micron) on a nylon strop to maintain is edge. He was using the green paste, so I had the same paste at home and I went to a music store and bought a nylon guitar strap. I pasted my strop, let it dry a full day and gave it 15 laps on 1 of my straight who was starting to pull and tug. Clean the blade whit a tissue carfuly and strop it on my clean nylon(not pasted) 30 laps and finish up whit 60 on leather. To me for that razor it bring back the edge shave ready just like when a received the razor! Right now I did 12 shaves on the razor just by using my regular stroping routine I got very close, comfy nice shaves. Maybe the results could be different on my other razors but futur will tell. I kept a journal of # shaves I can get before I use the pasted strop again, but to my guess I think i’ll Probably good for at least 30 shaves. So to my conclusion every straight shavers who knows the technics how to shave and to strop should try it before puting a blade on a stone, of course it’s only my opinion and some already tried it and didn’t like it, but it deosn’t Cost much to try. Most important thing get some paste from some reputable straight shaving vendors.
Pasted strop for edge maintaining
- Thread starter Guitar10
- Start date
Cool deal. It's nice to not have to send straights to be honed by someone else. With practice and a few dollars you can get more life out of the edge .
Good on you @Guitar10 . More people should try pastes first before they dive into honing. Whether you stay with it is immaterial due to the low investment and the fact that it is educational to see what pastes can do. As has been said, millions of shavers have never used anything but pastes for maintaining their edges.
I prefer pastes on balsa wood. Great for touch ups. Did that just today in fact.
When I first got into this 14 years ago I sold shave ready razors that were entirely sharpened on pasted strops. I used a progression of diamond pastes from 9 micron down to .5 micron. Big fan of pastes and emulsions for both razors and knives
We’re these leather, linen, canvas, or other pasted strop?
These were all done on my 4 sided paddle strops using thick, fairly firm veg tanned leather, smooth side. I do prefer a hard surface for use with pastes and have mainly used horsehide lately as it is far harder than steerhide. For stick type abrasives I like the rougher flesh or skived side of the hide, for sprays and liquid emulsions I like the smooth side better.
I started SR shaving about a year ago and never had someone else hone a razor for me. Most of the razors I have is vintage, and none of them came shave ready, even when advertised as such. I had nobody to teach me, only youtube and my own experiments.
To get to the point, once you have razor that can shave, even if it's just barely, you can make it shave much better by stropping on a leather paddle strop, pasted with either Crox, or even better with .25micron diamond paste. Some of the razors required a lot of stropping, up to 600 laps, but they all got there.
It makes sense to me that if you do this too many times on a hanging strop, leather or fabric, you will eventually round your edge and it will have to be re-honed. It's not rocket science to understand that the edge will eventually take the shape of the surface you are stropping on.
When you strop on a straight leather paddle, you are stropping at the same angle your razor was honed on a stone, only now you are removing a very small amount of metal, just enough to maintain a good edge. Furthermore it also means that you can do it indefinitely, in theory never having to go back to the stones again. One tip: Use very light pressure, just enough to keep it flat on the strop, even if you think you are doing nothing, it will happen.
For a long time, my routine was to strop on the paddle for 25 laps after each shave, then on a clean hanging leather strop for the normal 50 laps. That's all, nothing more required. I think you can do that for a very long time, probably longer than you would ever wish to, and have no visible wear due to the process.
For the record: I now use a balsa wood strop with .1 micron diamond paste. It takes it to another level giving me smoother, less harsh edges than the .25 paddle strop. Better edges, but it requires more finesse.
To get to the point, once you have razor that can shave, even if it's just barely, you can make it shave much better by stropping on a leather paddle strop, pasted with either Crox, or even better with .25micron diamond paste. Some of the razors required a lot of stropping, up to 600 laps, but they all got there.
It makes sense to me that if you do this too many times on a hanging strop, leather or fabric, you will eventually round your edge and it will have to be re-honed. It's not rocket science to understand that the edge will eventually take the shape of the surface you are stropping on.
When you strop on a straight leather paddle, you are stropping at the same angle your razor was honed on a stone, only now you are removing a very small amount of metal, just enough to maintain a good edge. Furthermore it also means that you can do it indefinitely, in theory never having to go back to the stones again. One tip: Use very light pressure, just enough to keep it flat on the strop, even if you think you are doing nothing, it will happen.
For a long time, my routine was to strop on the paddle for 25 laps after each shave, then on a clean hanging leather strop for the normal 50 laps. That's all, nothing more required. I think you can do that for a very long time, probably longer than you would ever wish to, and have no visible wear due to the process.
For the record: I now use a balsa wood strop with .1 micron diamond paste. It takes it to another level giving me smoother, less harsh edges than the .25 paddle strop. Better edges, but it requires more finesse.
- Thread starter
- #10
Here’s an update on the pasted strop refresh! I was able to get 15 shaves on that method of refresh, it’s less that I was expecting but hey it works that’s what it count. I did my 15 shaves this morning and there was just a bit of tugging and pulling, so I refresh it again after my shave this morning and I will tested the edge sometimes during this week. My next step now is to try it on another straight, right now I don’t have any to refresh but has soon there be one I will refresh it whit the pasted strop. I will gave an update when it will be time. Gino
Some people swear by the pasted balsa strops. You should read the tread
https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/how-to-use-a-pasted-balsa-strop.473580/ .
There are plenty people that maintain the edge using a 0.1u diamond pasted balsa wood very successfully. Might be worth a try. The initial investment is not that bad...
https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/how-to-use-a-pasted-balsa-strop.473580/ .
There are plenty people that maintain the edge using a 0.1u diamond pasted balsa wood very successfully. Might be worth a try. The initial investment is not that bad...
- Thread starter
- #12
Did the shave test! It did bring back the edge shave ready again.
- Thread starter
- #13
It’s been a while I didn’t post! Just to gave you an update on my pasted strop method, I did few refreshes since and to my conclusion is very simple! I figure that the regular stropping tech have lots to do whit the pasted stop. I was able to get on certain straights about 60 to 70 shaves before I refresh it again, i’m Pretty sure whit that method I can go a very long way before I put a straight on a stone. The trick is don’t push your edge to far the minute your straight doesn’t gave you a comfy shave refresh it right away. Here is my simple set up.
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Guitar, your thread was one I found while researching CrOx. If you haven't seen it, check out this video (turn on Engliss cc):
His playlist has some interesting ideas, including palm stropping.
His playlist has some interesting ideas, including palm stropping.
- Thread starter
- #15
I will check that out for sure
...and from our. ery own B&B:
www.badgerandblade.com
How to Use CrOx, Red Paste, and Black Paste to Maintain Your Edge?
I'm curious about how guys use pastes such as Stangen Pasta (see below) and CrOx to maintain their razors. Here's a link to how I use these pastes following honing. Yes, the pastes are applied to strops of various sorts which is why I put this in the stropping section. It occurs to me that the...
www.badgerandblade.com
- Thread starter
- #17
Like there is so mush options to refresh a straight razor edge, but to my opinion is to find what really works is the main thing. Personally I have few methods of refreshing a straight but the pasted strop method that I use(for me) is the simplest and it works for me. Just to keep an open mind on other methods who also can work to anybody who’s using a straight shaver to shave and to maintain your edge for a very long while and almost cost less....and from our. ery own B&B:
How to Use CrOx, Red Paste, and Black Paste to Maintain Your Edge?
I'm curious about how guys use pastes such as Stangen Pasta (see below) and CrOx to maintain their razors. Here's a link to how I use these pastes following honing. Yes, the pastes are applied to strops of various sorts which is why I put this in the stropping section. It occurs to me that the...
I just ordered a loom strop & Thiers Issard CrOx paste, last night. I'll post when it comes in.
- Thread starter
- #19
Great, you can PM me to if you want to discuss any other things
I’ve been using CrOx for months ...when an edge starts to drop off I give it 10-15 light laps on .5 and it’s good to go.
