Thread: Honing powders

I have been reading various info regarding honing with powders like Bill Ellis does with pumice and rottenstone. This thought led me to a rock polishing website where they sell powders like: Rottenstone - Celite - Tripoli Pre-Polish - Cerium Oxide Polish - Tin Oxide polish .

Has anyone had experience with any other powder besisdes rottenstone. According to the Ellis video, powders enhance the edge and eradicate scratch patterns. There has to be at least one shaver out there that has used tripoli or some other powder. Please fill us in about your experience with powders.....
Thanks in advance____________JERRY

Here is something about Cerium Oxide.

I have tried rottenstone, tin-oxide, whiteing, and graphite. The whiteing (calcium carbonate) and graphite seemed to work very slowly. I really liked the tin-oxide, or rottenstone on a denim covered paddle strop.

The tin-oxide is left over from my telescope mirror making days. I have some cerium oxide but have not tried it.

My results do not seem to be typical, My milage varies.



Charlie

One that I'm fond of is the white rouge that is sold at just about every hardware store. I have no idea what's in it, but it's available everywhere and is extremely reasonably priced - $4 for a 4oz stick seems to be the norm. Produces a very nice edge, doesn't seem prone to overhoning, and is slow enough that you can even put it on your daily linen strop if you use it sparingly and keep a light touch on the strop.

Linde "A" is also nice to use, but is more expensive and less convenient to acquire and apply. I'll have to revisit my cerium oxide in light of that other thread - I thought it was quite nice but not outstanding. It is cheaper than Linde "A" though.

My cerium oxide is white, but I'm curious that there are yellow variants in the coarser grits. It makes me wonder if this might be the abrasive used in Flexcut Gold, which I've been using for years on my Hand American roughout strop for honing my Sheffield choppers and my kitchen knives.

Originally Posted by mparker762

One that I'm fond of is the white rouge that is sold at just about every hardware store. I have no idea what's in it, but it's available everywhere and is extremely reasonably priced - $4 for a 4oz stick seems to be the norm. Produces a very nice edge, doesn't seem prone to overhoning, and is slow enough that you can even put it on your daily linen strop if you use it sparingly and keep a light touch on the strop.

Linde "A" is also nice to use, but is more expensive and less convenient to acquire and apply. I'll have to revisit my cerium oxide in light of that other thread - I thought it was quite nice but not outstanding. It is cheaper than Linde "A" though.

My cerium oxide is white, but I'm curious that there are yellow variants in the coarser grits. It makes me wonder if this might be the abrasive used in Flexcut Gold, which I've been using for years on my Hand American roughout strop for honing my Sheffield choppers and my kitchen knives.

Linde is mostly Aluminum oxide. That's what they make-synthetic gemstones-sapphire and ruby which is aluminum oxide.

I've never seen white cerium oxide before. Its usually a tan to yellowish color which is the natural color of the stuff. Most of the other stuff mentioned like the tin oxide are designed primarily for gemstone polishing and some precious metal polishing. Of course they can be used for other things too like razors.

Just to clarify??? You are talking about using powder on a hone (read stone)????? not a strop or a flatbed strop????

If so WHY????

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Just to clarify??? You are talking about using powder on a hone (read stone)????? not a strop or a flatbed strop????

If so WHY????

Glenn, I've never heard of people using the powder grits with a stone to sharpen a straight razor and I'm not sure how effective that would be....BUT, I know of several people that use powders on their stones to give a better edge to blades of other shapes and sizes...

I use Linde A (0.3 Micron Sapphire Powder/Aluminum Oxide) as an artificial slurry on my Dragons Tongue to get a finer edge before stropping...it only takes a pinch...

I also know someone that uses Japanese 30K powder (gets it on Epray) on a cast iron plate as his final stone before stropping...

When I make a new knife (not straight razor), I go through several stones, use the Linde A slurry on the DT then to the flat leather with Linde A and finish with a plain horsehide....I have been much happier with my edges since adding the artificial slurry, it seems to give me a much finer edge before the stropping begins.

If I were beginning the search for a powder, instead of having tried most of them, I would go with the Linde powders (available on Epray or rock shops) or with the Chromium Oxide powders.....I preferr the Linde because they seem to give me significantly faster results and therefore last longer, but that may just be me.

The Linde powders being Alumina, probably levigated are considered to be utility products because they are usually pretty inexpensive (I'm talking about lapidary use here) and do a pretty good job. For ultimate fine polish I've used Cerium Oxide which is about the best in mybook. Depending on the mineral though there are many alternatives like Tin oxide and Chrome oxide and Tripoli and a few others. It shouldn't be any different for most steel since most razor steel is probably around a 5 or 6 on the mohs scale. So its a matter of finding the best polish for that hardness range. You have to experiment.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I've never seen white cerium oxide before. Its usually a tan to yellowish color which is the natural color of the stuff.

I hauled it outside this weekend to get a good look at it and you're right it's not white but a very light beige color.

I guess the finer it is, the whiter.

The stuff works fine for handles and an overall polish btw.
I use it on a micro fiber cloth.