Question about "compound". What is, if any, difference is there in the different color compounds sold for a large price and the compound sold for $5 in Lowes and other hardware stores?
Look to see if you can discern the grit of each compound. I know bravo has used some of the compounds available at hardware stores, I have only found jewelry polish compound which for me was too fine. The compounds flexxx uses range from coarse to fine(very rudimentary definition) black, green, white and his custom oil treatment.
Compounds can be graded or ungraded, and even the graded ones commonly are only stating their average particle size rather than a specific grit, and every manufacturer is different. So there can be really quite a lot of difference between the same colors and different sources.
I've found the Strop Man and BRKT compounds to be similar. Once you're above 1200, the differences become negligible, IMO. I'm not an obsessive type and black works for my purposes. You'll probably go through a phase where the mirror polish is all that, but it gets laborious after so long and the ultra-shiny finish doesn't hold up as well as a fast, toothy cut.
My strops are all either BRKT green or black. According to their site the green compound is 6000 grit and the black compound is 3000 grit. I use my green strops less and less. The black compound is a very good finishing grit unless you are going for a look (polished). You're really just trying to take the burr off an edge and keep some teeth on the blade.
