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Post by mjclark on Apr 15, 2014 7:26:50 GMT -6
I made up a paste with baby oil, painted it on and let it soak in for a few hours. Then I wiped the excess off with tissue and it was good to go.
For it to work effectively, the blade needs to be honed through a straights progression first to get a proper shave ready edge - sound familiar?
Yeah, let us know what your strop is made of. Also my Viscount handle is much lighter than my Imperial handle, so I wonder how that changes the shaving dynamics.
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RobinK
Lather Catcher
Posts: 505
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Post by RobinK on Apr 15, 2014 9:56:26 GMT -6
Paul, thou shalt not abuse vintage shaving goods. Get a strip of balsa wood and some foam rubber (fine pores), glue rubber to wood, use instead of built in "strop". All happy, no damage done.
As for the oil thing: Powders (ferric or chromium oxide) should indeed be mixed with oil, such as neatsfoot or, in your case, mineral oil. Then lightly(!) apply it to your strop. Wipe with paper towels until the paper comes away almost clean. The good news is, you cannot do any serious damage beyond applying it in the first place. Excess paste will come off, but the strop will never be clean again. See alternative above.
Personally, I would pick something even less abrasive than ferric oxide. And I am not entirely sure whether the mid term effect of abrasives without leather will not be detrimental. For alternatives, see above. Balsa wood and a strip of leather (butcher a cow or ask your local shoe maker) are cheap.
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RobinK
Lather Catcher
Posts: 505
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Post by RobinK on Apr 15, 2014 9:58:33 GMT -6
I just checked. I have two of these "balsa hones" with foam rubber left. I also have chromium oxide and diamond sprays left. If one of you gentlemen wants to have a go at them, let me know. Local shipping is cheap enough.
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Post by mjclark on Apr 15, 2014 11:21:49 GMT -6
I just checked. I have two of these "balsa hones" with foam rubber left. I also have chromium oxide and diamond sprays left. If one of you gentlemen wants to have a go at them, let me know. Local shipping is cheap enough. Thank you for your kind offer. I would love to take you up on it! I have also wondered whether stropping on paste for every shave might degrade the edge, but we will find out!
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RobinK
Lather Catcher
Posts: 505
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Post by RobinK on Apr 15, 2014 12:21:36 GMT -6
Consider it done. I'll send you one with Elsterglanz Metallpolitur on the other side. Far less aggressive, so it might actually work for regular maintenance.
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exapno
Shave Master
Posts: 108
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Post by exapno on Apr 15, 2014 14:34:55 GMT -6
If you've one more to spare I'd be interested Robin.
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RobinK
Lather Catcher
Posts: 505
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Post by RobinK on Apr 15, 2014 15:13:32 GMT -6
I just checked, and I have exactly three left. All of them with chromium oxide on one side, and Elsterglanz on the other. Since .25µ diamond spray is a much faster cutter than either, I can spray the the Elsterglanz side. I shall ship all three to mjclark, and you guys can distribute the loot locally. If any of you need a wedge blade for a vintage lather catcher, let me know. I have a few dozen NOS blades (Heljestrand, near wedge, not the hollow ground German/French variety) left.
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Post by mjclark on Apr 16, 2014 0:44:56 GMT -6
Shaved with the Viscount last night after taking the blade through a bevel set, Welsh slate progression, crox on balsa then case stropping with that weird chipboard strop which I repasted with ferric oxide. Wow! A super shiny face shave The Viscount handle is aluminium and a lot lighter than the Imperial handle. Similar to those bakelite DEs, this makes it very manouverable but the stroke has less momentum. For aesthetics and performance, the Viscount case with the Imperial handle could be the perfect combination.
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Post by PJGH on Apr 16, 2014 1:19:39 GMT -6
Much thanks, Robin. We'll see what arrives with MJC.
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Post by mjclark on Apr 16, 2014 16:33:14 GMT -6
Second shave tonight with the blade from the Viscount. This time I used the heavier Imperial handle which felt smoother ATG and on tricky neck patches.
I'd worried that stropping on the case strop pasted with ferric oxide might lead to the blade getting harsher and harsher, but that isn't the case. On the second shave, the blade is settling in and has got both sharper and smoother with the use of the paste. Another great shave!
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RobinK
Lather Catcher
Posts: 505
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Post by RobinK on Apr 16, 2014 22:30:35 GMT -6
Ferric oxide is known to have that effect. It is a very mild abrasive. The fact that you are "stropping" on a flat, inflexible surface will prevent the edge from "cupping", ie getting rounded. This is what you get from stropping on a flexible, abrasive surface such as a hanging strop. Search the French cut-throat forums for vintage razors to see how bad an idea this actually is (but when it was done, razors were household items which, apparently, nobody expected to be used a century later).
You will, of course, lose some of the blade by permanently using an abrasive. If you stick to ferric oxide, and use it daily, you should be starting to see your blade disappearing in the year 2114. So be careful.
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Post by mjclark on Apr 16, 2014 22:49:36 GMT -6
Ha ha - with the pasted case strop the Rolls is now a safety where you have to replace the blade every 100 years! Good job I've got some spare blades And you're right, there's no cupping with this system so maybe the edge can be maintained indefinitely by simply stropping on the paste. This is exciting since it would mean each blade would only have to be honed once in its lifetime... I was wondering about trying chromium oxide as an alternative too, although the ferric oxide is already giving excellent results.
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RobinK
Lather Catcher
Posts: 505
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Post by RobinK on Apr 16, 2014 23:26:38 GMT -6
Never change a running system (and vice versa). Chromium oxide will eat your blade. Over time (months? years? who knows...), it will result in a wire edge, and that is not what you want, really. Personally, I would recommend to use the system as intended, and put a finishing stone under the box every ten to fifteen shaves. Like a cut-throat. But that is just me.
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RobinK
Lather Catcher
Posts: 505
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Post by RobinK on Apr 17, 2014 0:41:09 GMT -6
For the chuckles only... I just downloaded my Picasa web albums to a local backup disk,and stumbled across this. A clear sign that everything can be overdone. And if it can be overdone, Germans are the people who will. Left to right: Premium I, Natural, red Latigo, Premium IV extra long, Premium Horsehide, Roo, Premium II, Buffalo. And they say stropping is easy...
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Post by mjclark on Apr 17, 2014 10:09:43 GMT -6
Well there ain't no stopping us now! I tried overlaying the case hone with oiled 3u polishing paper but of course it simply wasn't flat enough.
I can see that lapping film would work perfectly and wonder whether 3u or 1u would be more suitable for the case hone. Will have to order some!
In the meantime, I've lapped the case hone of my Imperial with a 600k synthetic and then oiled the hone to see if it will give finer polishing power for the jump to the pasted case strop.
It makes sense that ferric oxide would be the best paste in the Rolls for daily stropping, but I'm interested to see if the faster chromium oxide might work better as the next jump from the lapped case hone. Have to wait til the chromium oxide arrives to find out ...
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