Who has made their own strop paste?

[herbnerd]

I have access to Chromium oxide, Titanium dioxide, various shades of iron oxides (Black, red and yellow) and all sort of other suitably course grinding materials.

What would you use for a paste? Beeswax/oils? Hydrogenated vegetable oils and Medium Chain Tryglycerides? Neats foot and coconut oil?

Just curious.

 

[Baldy]

I used neetsfoot oil with my Chromium Oxide on balsa, and it worked nicely. I've also heard mineral oil works fine.

 

[honed]

Mineral oil works well.

But those powders are so fine that you won't need a carrier, just sprinkle & rub it in.

Vintage paste sticks seems to have had beeswax as a carrier.

 

[LarryAndro]

I use mineral oil. Mix alcohol with mineral oil in a 50:50 mixture, put a small amount of powder into the mixture in a spray bottle. Shake and spray.

 

[herbnerd]

I used neetsfoot oil with my Chromium Oxide on balsa, and it worked nicely. I've also heard mineral oil works fine.

Just plain uncoated balsa? Or is the balsa topped with leather?

 

[ramon]

I use johnnson paste wax is great

 

[bradyarz]

I use mineral oil. Mix alcohol with mineral oil in a 50:50 mixture, put a small amount of powder into the mixture in a spray bottle. Shake and spray.

i'll have to try that.

geez this larry guy is full of good ideas!

 

[honed]

Come to think of it, only alcohol & CrOx should work too.
Alcohol evaporates fast & doesn't raise the grain in the wood like water maight do.

 

[DavyRay]

Suntan lotion. Seriously. Ask the soapers here about this. Most skin care products are combination of an alcohol and fatty acid (oil). This is a great carrier for CrOx. I did not think this up. I read about it on a SRP forum.

It's good for the leather as well.

 

[honed]

Suntan lotion. Seriously. Ask the soapers here about this. Most skin care products are combination of an alcohol and fatty acid (oil). This is a great carrier for CrOx. I did not think this up. I read about it on a SRP forum.

It's good for the leather as well.

Some of them even contains titanoum oxide.
So...the hihger the SPF, the more abrasive it gets

 

[herbnerd]

Have a few kilos of titanium dioxide - but just how abrasive is Titanium dioxide? How does it compare is hardness to say, Iron oxide (Red, Yellow or Black oxide) or Chromium Oxide?

 

[herbnerd]

Come to think of it, only alcohol & CrOx should work too.
Alcohol evaporates fast & doesn't raise the grain in the wood like water maight do.

Good idea - but how about the fatty alcohols (Cetylalcohol, Stearylalcohol etc).

I guess one could do a W/O rather than O/W cream too.

 

[LarryAndro]

...Alcohol evaporates fast ....

Herein lies something to be aware of though. When you spray on the alcohol/oil mixture, the strop looks just about right. If you let it sit around a few hours, you might find that there is not as much oil on the strop as you thought. The strop might turn a bit powdery in fact. No matter. The abrasive is on the strop, and on the strop evenly. If the strop ever appears too dry, simply rub a little oil onto the strop and work it around and in.

 

[Woodash]

Have a few kilos of titanium dioxide - but just how abrasive is Titanium dioxide? How does it compare is hardness to say, Iron oxide (Red, Yellow or Black oxide) or Chromium Oxide?

TiO2 (either as rutile or anatase) has hardness of ~6.0-.5
Hematite ~ 5.5-6.0 (goethite/yellow and magnetite/black are similar)
Eskolate (Cr2O3) ~8-8.5

Any impurities might be important.

 

[ferroburak]

TiO2 (either as rutile or anatase) has hardness of ~6.0-.5
Hematite ~ 5.5-6.0 (goethite/yellow and magnetite/black are similar)
Eskolate (Cr2O3) ~8-8.5

Any impurities might be important.

Looks like chromium oxide (Cr2O3) is the way to go