Nano grit sprays on Tony Miller practice Horsehide and Paragon Steerhide

With the recent introduction of crazy fine .05 and .025 poly diamond sprays I became really interested is seeing how well these sprays work, and how it could be utilized to give a sharp edge every shave. With the .025 having a smaller particle size than soot, for example, I am hoping that using it daily on a razor will have little to no effect on edge longevity. If i can go a week or more without a touch up on a larger grit spray or on the coti/water, I would consider it to have no effect. As far as these particles having effect on the sharpness of the edge, well, you are going to have take my word for it...placebo effect and all...so without further ado....

The victim: GD 300 razor.

The antogonists: Tony Miller practice Horsehide and Paragon Steerhide strops. These are NOT his premium, best leather. Rather, I couldn't bring myself to spray a potentially lethal spray on the strops I have risked my life to buy behind SWMBO's back. So Tony graciously sent me some lower quality leather to test on when he sent my Paragon Strop. If this test goes well I may spray my good strops as well...maybe not....we will see....

Steerhide with 0.05 poly spray

Horsehide with 0.025 poly

I so far ran the GD through a diluticot, 30 laps on .25 CBN, unknown laps on .1 CBN, then 40 laps on the steer and 40 laps on the horse. It is VERY sharp. HHT I can hang 2+ inches of hair past my fingers, and snap off 1/8th sections of hair easily at that distance...shave test to follow.
I will continue using the GD for a week, with 30+laps on the steer and 30+ laps on the horse and see how long the keeness of the edge lasts, or for as long as my face can handle shaving with a lightsaber

BTW Tony's latest steerhide Paragon strop adds another facet to the stropping draw "game" it has the velvety feel of his horsehide, but with the draw of a well broken in Latigo...very nice. In the absence of his latigo I think this may be the best starter leather in his lineup.

Alright just shaved with the thing, and it was pretty sharp. My hardest to shave areas are right above the jawline on my cheeks. The whiskers there are for some reason very wiry, and require several XTG/ATG passes to get to BBS. Tonights shave took less passes, and very little pulling sensation, if any at all. It also seemed more eager to catch on the skin when I got careless. Overall one of, if not the sharpest blade I have honed yet. Best of all, it was able to cut these whiskers I have right on my lip line, which up until now were difficult to shave.

Looking forward to the rest of the results!

I'm actually using CBN .125 on an old 3" star shaving strop, I seem to prefer it to using the balsa, but haven't been using it daily.

I'll follow this closely

Great idea Kentos. I was actually thinking of this concept, but afraid to try. Thanks!

Second shave tonite was rushed and squeezed into 10 minutes! Regardless shave was nice and sharp after 30/30 laps. I noticed the edge reflecting light back to me on one edge near the heel this morning, but never rechecked the blade after the initial honing so I have no idea where it came from. I'll just live with it for now...
The edge continues to be sharp and smooth, but I do have some slight burn on the cheeks, likely due to the rush job and a dry lather.
The draw on the steerhide remains nice and smooth, while the horsehide remains fast and zippy- no harm done to the strops yet from the sprays.
Finally, the GoldDollar is quite frankly a nice razor that so far is able to maintain a "nanoedge" ...time will tell.

Great thread, I'm watching with interest. I'm happy with my CrOx finish for now, but maybe someday..

Ken,
Interesting experiemnts. Be aware that the surface of the horsehide I sent for practice was way more slick than usual. This piece was almost "glazed" and quite hard so may not allow the particle to become embedded. I would think other horsehide or even bridle leather would take the spray more like the steerhide does being a bit softer.

I am curious if in using sprays on these if the draw even matters to refining the edge or is it all the poly at work? This was my concern with pasting real linen. Being a raw, more abrasive fiber, is adding paste to it just a waste of the characteristics of the material itself and once pasted is the paste doing all the work and the cloth just a support for it. If so would it make more sense to just paste a lesser cloth.

Tony

Thanks Tony, I did notice the glazing, but went ahead anyways. The sprays don't seem to affect the leather of these "buffed" type surfaces, so I might just spray my better practice strop and have at it.

I am not sure about the surface vs the poly. Honed did mention that these nano grits are smaller than the natural silicates in the leather...when I sprayed my bridle leather it noticeably made the surface feel more abrasive despite the small particle size, which led me to want to try it on a "softer" leather like your steer and horse.
My main goal is to use these sprays as a daily strop dressing to maintain a scary sharp edge for every shave...

Third shave tonite was sharp and smooth. As I look at the horsehide, it does seem possible that the glazed surface may not be retaining the spray as Tony noted. So it is possible that the .05 poly on the steer is doing the grunt work, while the horsehide is just further refining. If this is true I would be happy with just using the .05 on it's own.
In any case the edge felt sharper tonite as there was virtually NO pulling ATG anywhere except for a little on the moustache area...could it be possible that the sprays on the leather are slowly honing the blade sharper and sharper? If so could this go on forever, or will the edge eventually collapse and fold? We will see....

I wonder if you'd see very similar results with simply chromox on leather daily?

Seraphim said:

I wonder if you'd see very similar results with simply chromox on leather daily?

Click to expand...

Maybe! Although I was under the impression the bevel would eventually round and you would need to rehone. I was hoping the extreme fineness of the poly would delay that phenomenon for a while. Maybe if you took only 2-3 light laps prior to your normal stropping?

4th shave, still as sharp, maybe even sharper!? And cut myself twice tonight...I need to pay more respect to the edge.

Does anyone know how many times you can touch up on a crox pasted strop before you feel the need for a few laps on the stones? Or can you go forever on it?

Gssixgun did that experiment over on SRP, it went on and on, from what I recall.

Seraphim said:

Gssixgun did that experiment over on SRP, it went on and on, from what I recall.

Click to expand...

That bodes well for my experiment then. Now it's just a matter of figuring out if the poly feels sharper than the crox...did he strop daily? I'll go search over there.

Edit: seems everyone was using crox on a paddle for touch ups. I may be the first guy dumb enough to try stropping daily on a pasted hanging strop...the experiment continues.

Hanging pasted strops rule!

Insert guitar riff here:

Seraphim said:

Hanging pasted strops rule!

Click to expand...

I agree, I cannot seem to get as comfortable an edge from Balsa or paddle strops.

Gentlemen, I believe I have had a breakthrough with tonight's shave. 2 things changed.

1. I sanded out the glazed surface of the horsehide with 800 and 1000 grit wetdry, then reapplied the .025 poly, which results in the sanded surface absorbing the spray quite nicely.

2. I went with a tallow based soap in my proraso super lather. The added slickness over the usual glycerine soap seemed let the otherwise "grabby" sharp edge glide more easily over the skin.

The above changes gave me a shave in closeness and comfort VERY close to a shave with my beloved Feather AC...I understand I may need go back this statement up with a traveling razor/strop offer sometime in the near future, but for now you gotta believe me Hoss'! The GD just sliced through everything. Quite frankly I am at a loss for words. I can get similar results, but with many more passes and some pulling and tugging on the harder ATG spots.

On one hand I have been doing this for a very short time compared to most, so my razor may merely be at a level of sharpness that is routine for most of you. On the otherhand there is the slight chance I am onto something...

Kentos said:

Gentlemen, I believe I have had a breakthrough with tonight's shave. 2 things changed.

1. I sanded out the glazed surface of the horsehide with 800 and 1000 grit wetdry, then reapplied the .025 poly, which results in the sanded surface absorbing the spray quite nicely.

2. I went with a tallow based soap in my proraso super lather. The added slickness over the usual glycerine soap seemed let the otherwise "grabby" sharp edge glide more easily over the skin.

The above changes gave me a shave in closeness and comfort VERY close to a shave with my beloved Feather AC...I understand I may need go back this statement up with a traveling razor/strop offer sometime in the near future, but for now you gotta believe me Hoss'! The GD just sliced through everything. Quite frankly I am at a loss for words. I can get similar results, but with many more passes and some pulling and tugging on the harder ATG spots.

On one hand I have been doing this for a very short time compared to most, so my razor may merely be at a level of sharpness that is routine for most of you. On the otherhand there is the slight chance I am onto something...

Click to expand...

The 25nm is no joke, it's awesome!

Just you wait & see when you use it daily on a really hard steeled Swedish razor.

You go from heavy head-bangin' to giggly school-girl dancing of pure joy!