Crayons as stropping compound?

[A_Blade_Afficionado]

If you search old posts you'll see Cliff Stamp and others have used plain wax on a strop without any abrasive. One reason is to leave a protective coating of wax on the edge.

This is your first post outside of W&C I've ever seen aside from announcements. /aside

Cr2O3 and Cr02 are two different things. Different oxidation numbers (Remember chem and redox reactions... Oh joy) yield completely different results. The ion charge on Cr in Cr2O3 is 3+, but the ion charge on Cr in Cr02 is 4+, assuming my chem is right. If I'm wrong please correct me. I'm pretty good at chem (I hate the class with a passion) but I'm sure some of you guys know a lot more than me.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Cr2O3 and Cr02 are two different things. Different oxidation numbers (Remember chem and redox reactions... Oh joy) yield completely different results. The ion charge on Cr in Cr2O3 is 3+, but the ion charge on Cr in Cr02 is 4+, assuming my chem is right. If I'm wrong please correct me. I'm pretty good at chem (I hate the class with a passion) but I'm sure some of you guys know a lot more than me.

That's the impression I was left with, after reading about Chromium compounds over the last couple of days. In my earlier post of info I found on Wiki, the Roman numerals in parentheses in the compound name, i.e. Chromium(III) oxide, Chromium(VI) oxide, etc. represent the net positive charge on the Chromium ion in the compound. From what I read, Chromium(III) oxide (Cr2O3) is considered to be the most stable oxidation state. So, I would assume that means it's less reactive overall and relatively less 'dangerous' than the Chromium(VI) variant (also known as hexavalent Chromium). There are still some doubts and/or questions about the safety of Chromium overall, due to a lack of thorough scientific data & studies (according to what I've been reading so far). But, my overall impression is that it's all about the oxidation state. Different charge means different physical properties (black, green, brown) and different chemical properties (acidic/corrosive, safe vs. mildly toxic vs. EXTREMELY toxic).

 

[knarfeng]

You are forgetting environmental toxicity. These days nobody wants any chrome in their factory waste stream. Google up the EPA regs on chrome. While Chrome6 is the really bad actor, there are strict limitations most forms of chrome, even the ones that are benign from a human toxicity standpoint.