I use Chromium Oxide on a paddle strop with a wool felt pad to finish after honing or to touchup a razor. Is balsa a better surface for Chromium Oxide?
Wool Felt Or Balsa For Chromium Oxide?
- Thread starter TheLegalRazor
- Start date
YMMV, but I got better results with balsa or leather.
Like Kentos said, YMMV. I like denim and CrO2. I also use balsa with it. I have convinced myself that the denim is better but I argued about it a lot (with myself).
I use it on a felt hanging strop, it works well enough.
Depends on what you want it to do. Balsa will make the CrOx behave differently than felt. For my purposes, balsa is preferred.
In what way will they behave differently?
i have tryed paddle strops , hanging strops , balsa felt and leather... balsa defanatley behaves differantly.. when i have used crox on balsa it seems to work so quik.. 5 laps just works rapid .. I would say 5 laps on balsa is the same as 15 on leather strop or even 25 laps , why i don't no.... i never felt that felt worked as well. balsa can lead to a harsher edge if your not care ful, so if i had a choice it would be my small dovo leather strop with crox second balsa .. balsa is certainly worth trying.. i'm sure you would feel a differance ..
gary
gary
I have it on a balsa strop and it has really helped me bring around some razors that I couldn't get right with waterstones alone.
CROX on balsa, or Diamond spray on felt , or Diamond paste on strop. Pick one.
I expect that if you're trying to knock down the 'crispness' of an edge, a few light laps on Cr-Ox on felt is the way to go; to bump the keeness a bit, the balsa makes sense.
exactly....
The firmer surface of balsa exposes more abrasive to the edge than, for example, felt. So an abrasive on balsa tends to cut more quickly than one on felt.
A practical application ... After honing at least one thousand razors, when I hone, I usually want something that produces a sharp edge fast. So I use a series of diamond sprays on a Spyderco UF. One micron diamond spray on the UF will set a bevel in as few as 20 laps, depending on the bevel's condition. That's about 2/3 the minimum number of laps my well used DMT 1.2K takes. Unlike the DMT edge, which requires more refinement, the one micron & UF edge will shave pretty damn well.
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
Balsa, for edge maintenance stropping. A leather bench strop also works for that, but I favor the balsa because it is cheap, easily smoothed, and expendable. I think it loads better than leather, too. I don't like a pasted hanging strop for edge maintenance. I do of course use an unpasted hanging strop, pre-shave.
Pasted hanging strop for sweetening the harsh edge from a fine, very flat stone like a Shapton. or very fine film. But I prefer to use leather rather than felt. It just seems better. I have two Big Daddies and I have seldom used the felt on the first one, and never used the felt on the second one.
Pasted hanging strop for sweetening the harsh edge from a fine, very flat stone like a Shapton. or very fine film. But I prefer to use leather rather than felt. It just seems better. I have two Big Daddies and I have seldom used the felt on the first one, and never used the felt on the second one.
I tape my felt and put oil on my balsa.
Fair enough. I got a bulsa block when I bought my first razor. It didn't come with CrOx so I never used it.
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
In that case, might I suggest getting some 1u or .5u diamond paste for one side, and some .25u or .1u for the other side? It seems to work better for me than CrOx, at least for edge maintenance purposes. I hit the coarse side a half dozen laps and the fine side a dozen, after each shave and my edges usually last forever unless I just want to hone. I love to hone so sometimes I hone a razor that isn't actually dull yet, just to see if I can get it a LEEEEETLE bit sharper!
tmi.
balsa is great-i also have a felt with diamond slurry
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
I think some of us might be rather uncomfortable with that personal revelation.
Is it possible to ban yourself for such outrageous claims?
