homemade stropping tests with crayons + others

I

imacf90

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Oct 15, 2009
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So I was doing some searching after seeing some stropping compounds online saying 'crayon' in the name. Do you think using crayons, or maybe pastels of some sort would actually work as a decent stropping compound? I'm sort of doubtful

I'm thinking of doing some tests with different kinds of 'homemade' stropping compounds. It will probably be done on some leftover pine boards I have laying around in the basement. I have a buck 112 and maybe another old lockback (says parker-imai on the tang) that I could use for testing. The parker-imai could never take a razor edge before in my experience.

So if anyone has any ideas for what I could use for abrasives other than what was already mentioned, It'd be cool. I have all the free time anyone could ever ask for(unfortunately...)
-Ian
 
Just get a stick of green polishing compound, should be fine. And it's cheaper than a box of 256 colors of crayons, all of which probly suck for stropping.
 
Tim616 said:
Just get a stick of green polishing compound, should be fine. And it's cheaper than a box of 256 colors of crayons, all of which probly suck for stropping.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I get that. It's just for fun, though. Nothing serious :P
 
Chromium oxide is used as a green pigment. There is also a version of chrome oxide that is yellow and used as pigment, I don't know how it is as an abrasive. Old timers used to use a green painted board as a strop. You might find a "chromium oxide green" artist's pastel, but the "pigment" in cheap crayons is more likely chalk and dye or something. Chrome is not a cheap metal
 
hmm, i guess i can try denim too. i have a couple pairs of jeans that are ripped and/or dont fit anymore. thats perfect
 
Interestingly enough, stropping a worn out disposable razor on your jeans will make it shave almost like new. Off topic I suppose, but meh.
 
i always use the canvass of my sack of broken hopes and dreams and man oh man there aint no seasonin like a dash of broken dreams
 
I strop with leather/green chrome oxide strop, and do a final
finish on my jeans, too. It really does make a difference. Just
make sure to strop AWAY from the edge or you might really
notice a difference.:eek:
Bill
 
Re: using crayons as stropping compounds

This topic came up quite a while back. There was some mention about chromium oxide's dual-purpose use as both a pigment in paints and such, and also as an abrasive/polishing compound. I'm pretty sure it isn't now, and may never have been, used as a coloring agent in crayons, though. Reason being, kids often like to chew on and/or eat crayons, or get it on their hands and rub their eyes and such. I think the coloring agents in crayons have to be guaranteed to be 'safe' for that possibility, and therefore aren't likely the same stuff. Chromium oxide has a somewhat questionable safety record, especially if the inhaled as a dust into the lungs. I think the manufacturers of crayons would have their hands full with potential liability issues, if even a possibility existed that it was being used in crayons.
 
Many white pigments use titanium dioxide, believe it has a Mohs of 7 or so.

I noticed my wife's home microdermabrasion uses Aluminum Oxide, feels like 120-200 grit (I WILL be giving this a try someday soon).

Most pool cue chalk (not the stuff for your hands) uses AlumOx as well, and in a micron range that probably makes it very useful for a semi-polished edge.

Pretty much every paper out there will have some abrasive qualities due to the pigments, binders, and clays (if its a coated/glossy sheet). Its astonishing how fast cover weight coated paper can dull an edge, makes sense it will work as a strop.

I've never tried it, but imagine plaster dust would work OK.

Climber's chalk is magnesium carbonate - it should have an effect as well.

One thing to remember with improvised stropping that I've only recently come to appreciate - the material doesn't need to have a higher Mohs value than the steel to have an effect. If a knife could only be dulled by materials with a higher Mohs value they'd never need sharpening. Anything that can dull a knife can at least polish it even if it cannot remove enough stock to grind a new apex. Harder material does speed up the work, but even the act of (fairly) gently removing all the microscopic bits of garbage and hangers-on will make the edge more refined. And that's without mentioning the role of friction and plastic flow when we're dealing with edges in the low single digit micron or sub micron range.
 
One thing I've noticed about stropping in general. The further one takes an edge on the stones, the easier it is to strop afterwards, using almost anything, like leather, paper, fabric, wood. When an edge becomes fine enough, virtually anything can either dull it or help refine it (mostly by removing burrs and/or aligning an edge, and some very gentle polishing). For a knife that 'has never taken a razor edge before', chances are, stropping alone won't fix that. It's more likely an issue of not enough work on the stones (edge not fully apexed). The vast majority of the time, a true razor edge (shaving edge) can and should be created on the stones, after which a strop can be used to very effectively maintain it, and perhaps take it up another notch or two, like from shaving to hair-popping, or hair-popping to hair-whittling.

Regarding the old Parker IMAI knife mentioned in the OP, I think I have one or two knives branded as such. If I'm not mistaken, the steel was something similar to AUS-6/6A (Japanese), which is similar in composition to 420HC. The knives I have, came with some very toothy and very sharp edges on them, so I have little doubt these could take a razor edge. Mine were among some of the earliest knives I accumulated, and I think were also the first ones that really seemed 'scary sharp' to me at the time. I remember telling myself to be a little more careful with them, because these edges had some real bite in them.
 
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