How to make a Balsa strop?

[Baby Face]

I am totally confused about all this honing ,and sharpening, and pasting......... and everything else surrounding to what is to me at this point a complete mystery. I know I will learn eventually with some more researech and of course money, there's always more money to be thrown at this situation.This place is the best resource I have been able to find in years and I am very lucky to have found this spot and you folks.As a matter of fact, due to the information I am able to get from here and the things I have been able to find out from here is the main reason that I have acted on a desire that I have had for many many years. What I'm talking about is the desire to go ahead with wet shaving with a straight razor. I went ahead and bought a razor,strop, shaving mug and soap, and a quality badger hair brush in a complete set I found on a razor that I really liked the look of as soon as I layed eyes on it. This is a Dovo Silver Steel Ebony and I think it's a beauty and I hope it shaves as well as it looks. Now lies more issues, I bought all this and didn't know enough to allow for the finances for honing requirements. So, now I'm running all over the internet to be able to come up with something economical enough to justify getting ( wife's happiness is a factor here in my spending). I have some information from a reliable source that paste may be enough to keep my razor maintained to shave quality if I don't drop the blade or abuse it in some way and I'm lucky enough just to have it lose it's edge through normal shaving. Long story short, I want to make my own balsa paddle strop and wanted some advice. I need to know how many sides I woould need, in other words how many pastes or sprays would/should I use. What kinds and grades of pastes or sprays would I need. Then I think finally is the balsa that I would find in the hobby and model shops the correct type or is there something else I should get? Any help and advice anyone is willing to share with me is going to be very much appreciated and I will be grateful for all input anyone takes the time to provide to me. I don't know if this is an important factor or not, but I only have a fairly light beard and I usually get a week from an ordinary twin blade disposable razor.

Thanks, Baby Face

[mdunn]

Here are some pictures of two sides of the balsa strop I made.

IMGP1620.jpgIMGP1619.jpg

I just made a paddle shape, then glued on regular store bought balsa to both sides.

I then sanded down the sides to make it flush, and then sanded both balsa faces. When you do this, you want to make it perfectly flat - so I put the sandpaper on a perfectly flat tile and moved the strop over it to ensure this.

I sanded all the way up to 1200 grit, and it was a glasslike surface - then mixed croox powder with some baby oil/mineral oil and pasted one side. Then a day or so later, once it had dried fully I did the same on the other side with jewlers rouge.

Then I used a paper towel on both sides to wipe off excess paste and spread it out some more.


Pasted strops are good, but they dont replace hones. They just make the razor last a lot longer between honing jobs - eventually youll want to go back to a finishing hone to refresh the edge.

[Baby Face]

Thanks mdunn,this is just the kind of help I was looking to get. Now that you mention it I was also told by this reliable source that it was only to get more time between proper honings. The jewelers rouge is not something I even thought would be fine enough. I use that and a couple of others on my motorcycle chrome when I let it go too long in between good cleanings and concentrate more on the joy of riding rather than the pretty of the bike I use it with a drill and a cotton wheel and even a dremel and small cotton wheel in the tiny tight spots and it works very good and puts it so bright that my bike has a big smile on it's face for miles, as do I. I will look into this during the weekend if the honey dews are not too big this weekend..... (honey dews: translation.... honey do this, honey do that They tend to get pretty big during this time of the year.Thanks again I do appreciate your time and input.

Thanks, Baby Face

[brucered]

looks like my next DIY shave project....unless their have been any developments or changes in the last 3y since the last post

[Slash McCoy]

I like a simple block of balsa 12" long, 3" wide, and 3/4 to 1" thick. I don't care for a paddle handle. Sanding the stropping surfaces dry smooth and flat is highly recommended. My own favorite abrasives are 1u and .25u diamond paste. Be careful not to contaminate the fine side with even the slightest trace of the coarser grade!

If your razor really needs honing, the balsa won't help you. The pasted balsa is good only for maintaining the edge, not establishing it.

[brucered]

I like a simple block of balsa 12" long, 3" wide, and 3/4 to 1" thick. I don't care for a paddle handle. Sanding the stropping surfaces dry smooth and flat is highly recommended. My own favorite abrasives are 1u and .25u diamond paste. Be careful not to contaminate the fine side with even the slightest trace of the coarser grade!

If your razor really needs honing, the balsa won't help you. The pasted balsa is good only for maintaining the edge, not establishing it.

thanks. got a pic of your balsa block? i'm new to all this and am looking for options, suggestions etc.

i have a stationary planer, so i'm hoping that will give it a mirror smooth finish, or near to it as well as a super flat surface. it seems to on anything else i put through it.

[Slash McCoy]

I will throw a pic up here when I get to Jebel Ali this weekend. Everything is in a rush up here in Shuwaykh and internet is spotty. But it isn't anything except just a piece of balsa pasted with diamond paste. Just all rectangle-y and grayish from diamond and swarf impregnafied into the pores of the balsa.

The planer probably won't help much. The balsa you get from a hobby shop will already be planed. You want to finish it with a sheet of 1000 grit sandpaper glued to a very flat surface. You could use a progression of say 400, 600, and 1000 but really balsa is so soft it won't take but a few minutes to gitter done on the 1k. And many people don't bother at all, just use it as they get it.

[fast14riot]

Here is my balsa strop. 3/4"x4"x12" $4.99 from hobby lobby. I trued mine on a granite tile with sandpaper glued down. Green Chrome oxide compound. If you buy the crayon looking stick of compound, take some and mix it with some isopropanol to make a thin slurry that is easier to spread. I applied it with a paper towel and it dries in a couple minutes. I also use that scrap of leather as a bench strop and the newspaper as well. Look up lapping films if you want to be able to hone for a cheaper initial investment.




-Xander

[dajohn17]

Here is my balsa strop. 3/4"x4"x12" $4.99 from hobby lobby. I trued mine on a granite tile with sandpaper glued down. Green Chrome oxide compound. If you buy the crayon looking stick of compound, take some and mix it with some isopropanol to make a thin slurry that is easier to spread. I applied it with a paper towel and it dries in a couple minutes. I also use that scrap of leather as a bench strop and the newspaper as well. Look up lapping films if you want to be able to hone for a cheaper initial investment.




-Xander

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/...ng-kit-852400/ you use these to hone?

[michiganlover]

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/...ng-kit-852400/ you use these to hone?

I have never tried it, but the 4000, 6000, and 12000 grit should put a pretty good edge on a straight razor, progressing from course to finer grit of course. Finish with the Chromium Oxide balsa strop, and you should have a super fine edge.

A entry level setup is often a Norton 4000/8000 hone, and a Chinese 12K hone, so the lapping paper would come pretty close to replicating that setup.

[cpcohen1945]

WhippedDog.com sells a pasted strop kit -- balsa, with CrOxide (0.5 micron) on one side, and FeOxide (0.1 micron, roughly equal to "jeweller's rouge") on the other.

It works pretty well.

. Charles