Boron carbide stropping?

redhawk44p

redhawk44p

Joined
Jan 10, 2004
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I have been using boron carbide for stropping lately. I attach cardboard to a smooth surface with carpet tape for my strop then apply a coating of stropping compound this works better than leather for me, I always used chromium oxide with excellent results but wanted to expand my sharpening skills. The BC is not as fne as the CO and does not seem to make hair pop off of my arm like a CO stropping but if I use the BC then the CO I seem to get a better edge than I ever have before.
Does anyone else have experience with boron carbide? Stropping tips are appreciated. Thanks
 
The boron carbide that handamerican sells is used by some people in the straight razor world. It is very effective. You are correct to use the bc first then follow that with the chrome oxide. Some of us follow the CO with 0.25 micron synthetic diamond for an ultra sharp edge. In straight razors we create the bevel first with 1000 grit then use 4000>8000> 10000 then on to the abrasive pastes usually 1.0 micron>0.5 micron and finish with 0.25 micron.
 
Click here and read Yuhuza's first post. The us-products link needs the first http thing removed and then it'll work.

ESK/Ceradyne sold me some 0.7 micron boron carbide (though one of the salesladies later told someone else she thought it was 2 micron) and that stuff works great.
 
What gives me an awfully sharp edge is using an all-diamond stropping approach. Woodcraft has a kit with a series of diamond honing paste grits and even a small diamond bench hone. I made my own extra-smooth strop using photographic paper on top of a pad of paper. When I worked up to the .5-micron diamond I really got a superlative edge. The diamond cuts cleaner than other abrasives that I have used. Even a .5 micron edge seems to slice well. I don't use the wooden blocks when I'm doing this.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=4666
 
Thanks for the great replies. I really like learning about stropping and new sharpening techniques. The straight razor guys have it down to a science.
 
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