Crayons as stropping compound?

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iambored388

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Mar 9, 2010
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I was watching videos trying to learn about stropping, and everybody was saying to apply the coumpound like a crayon. I decided to try actual crayons. I put them os some cardboard and got to it! It worked great!
I don't know if this was alredayknown to most people but if you have tried it tell me what you think.
 
Sure you just don't have wax on your blade?
 
iambored388 said:
I was watching videos trying to learn about stropping, and everybody was saying to apply the coumpound like a crayon. I decided to try actual crayons. I put them os some cardboard and got to it! It worked great!
I don't know if this was alredayknown to most people but if you have tried it tell me what you think.
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Did you keep it all inside the lines? :p

Stitchawl
 
wyattT said:
what in the crayon is acting as the abrasive? my bet is not much of anything...
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If I had to really stretch on this one and come up with a answer, I'd say the colour pigment might be an abrasive. But the only reason I offer that is b/c chromium oxide is used as colour pigment.

I think he's pulling our legs. He's gotta be... right?
 
I suppose, depending on what types of pigment are used to color the crayons, it seems this might work. Many polishing/sharpening compounds use oxides of one type or another, like iron oxide (red rouge), aluminum oxide (white), chromium oxide (green). I believe these oxides are also used as color pigments in powder form, perhaps even more so than for polishing/abrasive use. Interesting idea, guess I might have to 'experiment' with that also...
 
okay yall, i don't know what makes it work. Maybe it was all in my head, but it did seem to work for me.
 
There is a huge variety of stuff that are used as pigments. Reds are going to be iron, yellow is sometime an extract of cow's urine (in crayons? I don't know). So it is certainly conceivable that something in a crayon would be abrasive enough to strop...I do not find it far-fetched.
 
I don't think it's far-fetched at all. As someone else mentioned, CrO2 is used as a common pigment for coloring. Ordinary flat green barn paint is what the old woodworkers used to paint onto wood boards to strop their tools. The CrO2 in the paint did the abrasive work. We've been using the same CrO2, just in other carriers or even without the carriers as powders. Add these same powders to some soft paraffin wax, pour into a round mold, and you have a green crayon. "Crayola" might have some different formula for its wax, but it still needs a green pigment.

Stitchawl
 
I'd be interested to know which colors worked best. I hope you don't have a 64 count box... :D
 
Some of you got it right... kinda. It's true that various minerals/oxides have been used as pigments in artists colors for, literally, thousands of years.

Today, though, those same ground minerals and oxides have become far too costly to use as pigment in crayons. Nowadays, the coloration in crayons — and most other things — comes from chemicals, mostly aniline dyes.

That doesn't mean, however, that there is nothing in crayons that would provide the abrasive "tooth" necessary for stropping. I just don't know what it might be.

Yes, I do know what I'm talking about when it comes to colors and pigments. I've made my living as an artist for over thirty years, and I've been studying for even longer.

Some of my old stuff http://www.dawsondoes.com/illustration_portfolios/illustration_portfolios.html
 
dawsonbob said:
Some of you got it right... kinda. It's true that various minerals/oxides have been used as pigments in artists colors for, literally, thousands of years.

Today, though, those same ground minerals and oxides have become far too costly to use as pigment in crayons. Nowadays, the coloration in crayons — and most other things — comes from chemicals, mostly aniline dyes.

That doesn't mean, however, that there is nothing in crayons that would provide the abrasive "tooth" necessary for stropping. I just don't know what it might be.

Yes, I do know what I'm talking about when it comes to colors and pigments. I've made my living as an artist for over thirty years, and I've been studying for even longer.

Some of my old stuff http://www.dawsondoes.com/illustration_portfolios/illustration_portfolios.html
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Well i'm not actually using a crayola crayon. I'm using this crayon-like pastel artist thing.
 
iambored388 said:
Well i'm not actually using a crayola crayon. I'm using this crayon-like pastel artist thing.
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Ah... that's an entirely different thing. Is it like a dry pastel (like chalk) stick? I could easily see one of those having enough abrasive qualities to use for stropping.
 
dawsonbob said:
Ah... that's an entirely different thing. Is it like a dry pastel (like chalk) stick? I could easily see one of those having enough abrasive qualities to use for stropping.
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no it's not like chalk, it feels exactly like a crayon and draws just like one. I don't know if they are made differently but it could be.
 
iambored388 said:
no it's not like chalk, it feels exactly like a crayon and draws just like one. I don't know if they are made differently but it could be.
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My guess would be oil pastels. They're supposed to work like pastels, but without the chalky dust, and they don't flake off like regular pastels, either.

Unfortunately, I can't think of anything in either the binder or the pigment that would be abrasive enough to use for stropping, but that doesn't mean there's nothing there.

I'm sure you already know this, but plain cardboard is abrasive enough to use for stropping all by itself. Could it be that the "crayon" isn't actually doing anything, but the cardboard is?
 
some farmers in the Philippines who make a living making some kind of coconut wine polish their small scythes with a fine dust on a flat piece of wood. the edges are almost mirror too. they use their scythes to cut very thin slices from the part of the tree that produces the sap. this part of the tree is very tough and fibrous. free stropping compound.
 
Chromium is fairly toxic. I doubt they put it in a object that is given to small children and probably chewed and eaten all the time. The cardboard would probably work better without the 'crayon.'
 
It's nice to see teens here in Maintenance and Tinkering. In 5 years you'd be pushing the forefront of knife sharpening =)
 
Use the cardboard without the crayon and tell us if it still works.
:D

It will ;)
 
iambored388 said:
Well i'm not actually using a crayola crayon. I'm using this crayon-like pastel artist thing.
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I've been looking up some info on the web, and with regard to the 'crayon-like pastel artist thing', I've found some info regarding so-called 'artists soft pastels'. Many of these use either iron oxide or chromium oxide (and other oxides) in their pigment, depending on the color. As an example, here's a link to one maker's products, regarding the composition of their soft pastels:

http://www.winsornewton.com/main.aspx?PageID=311

I could see why Crayola (the brand) wouldn't want to use anything toxic in products marketed for use by children, but other makers of 'art supplies' evidently aren't as concerned about it.
 
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