What about this Chrome Oxide

The picture looks like a little pile of dirt. :jerkit:

It's so inexpensive why don't you get it and report back on the results? :cool:
 
buzzard767 said:
,,,It's so inexpensive why don't you get it and report back on the results? :cool:
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I am a complete novice with CO without a reference point to which I could compare. I am hoping someone knows if there are various grades of CO. Why waste $16 if it is known to be unappropriate for honing.
 
I agree with Dog about getting a 6oz bar of CrO2, however, there are cheaper vendors out there. You shouldn;t have to pay more than $7 for a small bar of green. I paid $6.95 for a bar at The Woodworker's store last summer.

At Hawkins Knife Making supply, for example, you can get a 3pound bar of green (Grade A-36) for $7. Try using that up in your stropping lifetime! You can cut it up, break it apart, or whatever and sell or give it to other stropping buds.
 
I like Handamerican's CrO2 gel. I mix all my stropping abrasives with it. I just prefer the feel the strop has with this more than the bar type compounds I've tried. You can also take dry or paste abrasives and mix it with this gel (or mineral oil) to apply to the strop.

I would think that stuff would work, but I don't know what/if the difference is between CrO2 meant for colorant vs. abrasive. And the #2 poster's response was uncalled for.
 
StretchNM said:
At Hawkins Knife Making supply, for example, you can get a 3pound bar of green (Grade A-36) for $7. Try using that up in your stropping lifetime! You can cut it up, break it apart, or whatever and sell or give it to other stropping buds.
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LOL, at the rate I'm going with my 6 oz. bar, I'm probably going to leave 5.5 oz. to someone when I die.
 
You'll want something to mix that with before stropping. Loose chromium oxide is potentially harmful when breathed (lungs being softer than most steels) and always messy. If you have a centrifuge and abrasive-free polish, it'd make for a lifetime supply of stropping compound.
 
Well that looks very similar to the dry powder CrO that you can buy from HandAmerican. I smear it on leather strops and paper strops with a tissue. Is this stuff really dangerous?
 
Have you ever mixed cement for setting tile? Like thin-set mortar? It's super-fine. I know it's hazardous, but I'm dumping some out of the bag into a bucket and this very thin cloud of dust is rising in the air. I'm scrambling around, holding my breath, walking outside the garage until it settles. See, that cloud of dust is not cement residue, it IS the cement itself! So fine that it floats in the air like smoke.

I've never seen that CrO2 powder, but knowing how fine the crayon bar is (.5 micron or some such ridiculous thing), I would think it would be alot like that thin-set mortar cement. Of course, you're not using that much of it. Better maybe would be to mix it with something like Broos and Thom said....maybe mineral oil to make a slurry.
 
Just my opinion, but that stuff looks kind of chunky. They are selling it as a glaze, and make no mention of stropping, and I would think there is no attempt at uniformity. Your best bet is to buy from someone who is selling it as an abrasive.
 
matt321 said:
Well that looks very similar to the dry powder CrO that you can buy from HandAmerican. I smear it on leather strops and paper strops with a tissue. Is this stuff really dangerous?
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Like Thom said, it is not toxic. CrO is very inert, but inhaling any form of inert fine dust will eventually clog the lung. The lung of an old coal miner is pitch black from the inhaled coal-dust. You could probably light it on fire.
 
i bought a 3lb bar of green chrome from jantz.i was really suprised at how big a 3lb bar actually is! i do a good bit of sharpening and i doubt if i will ever use all of it. so as far as im concerened i think your better off paying a few dollars more for a brand of known quality,you only have to buy it once. if you try the cheap unknown and it turns out to be useless then thats a complete waste of your money. so for my 2 cents worth,somethings youre better off to go with the more expensive of known useability. afterall it is cheaper in the long run.....willy
 
Y'all convinced me. I have no business with a large pile of CrO2 of unknown effectiveness. You're right, it's no bargain if I don't use it or it doesn't work. Thanks for the help.
 
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