[tjiscooler]

Yesterday I was polishing a piece of metal (The head of a huge rusty bolt I found to be exact) I went from a steel file to 50 grit all the way up to 2500 grit, then some hand rubbed flitz. It was a nice mirror shine, almost perfect. I then though why not rub it on my .5 chrome pasted strop. So i did. I noticed that it left more scratches in the finish and they were larger / deeper then with the flitz. From this I concluded that flitz is finer in abrasiveness then the Chromium oxide.

So my question is, has anyone tried stropping with flitz or MASS? If the chrome oxide is to "polish" the edge and metal polish is finer, why not use the polish? Sorry if this seems silly or is dumb and im missing something. Im tempted to try it buy I would like to hear peoples thoughts on this first.

[thebigspendur]

Its always been my impression that most of the liquid polishers use chemical action more than abrasive to do their work. This is just a guess on my part but possibly the chemical action is the result you are seeing.

[joke1176]

I've never used Flitz or MAAS, but I have tried stropping with Brasso a while back.

It put a mirror polish on the bevel, and the shave was OK. Maybe I will dig out that canvas strop and try it again!

[onimaru55]

Good experiment but don't forget an old bolt is softer than a tempered razor so the scratches may well be deeper.
There are a lot of variables with lapping or stropping with pastes but let us know your results. I've toyed with the idea of using micro-mesh polishing compound ( 1 micron ) but my CrO strop ain't broke so not keen to fix it.

[Sancho]

Things to strop with in a pinch...
from link:
I have tried using newspaper just like Mike, but I've seen an improvement after putting just a few small dabs of MaaS on first, work it in and let dry. I would not want to do this on a strop because of the other chemicals involved, but a newspaper ends up in the trash or recycled so it's all good. The good thing is that stuff is already hanging around at home if you buy razors off the bay.

[English]

Useful observations. Thanks.

[kelbro]

I have Flitz (paste, not liquid) on one side of one of my paddle strops and use it as a follow up to the green chromium oxide. Mirror polish for sure. I haven't looked at the resulting scratch pattern under the scope yet but the black residue on the strop says that it is doing something.

[tjiscooler]

Looks like I stumbled on a secret...Now the Honemiesters are gonna put a hit on me lol

[shuredgefan]

I use Maas on cardstock every time I hone. It takes care of those unsightly lines in the bevel.

Of course I could be screwing up my bevel, but it works for me.