Thread: DOVO Strop paste and Canvas strop

Hey there,

This is my first post, though I have been lead to these forums from google searches quite a few times over the past few weeks and have learned much from you guys - thank you!

I recently bought my first straight razor off ebay, an old JA Henckles Solingen razor, and am extremely excited for it to arrive.


My questions pertain to a old barber's strop and the strop paste that I bought (separately) as well:

The leather strop seems to be in good condition and has a canvas one attached to it as well. I've read about how to properly clean strops and that you can't ever mix grits.. but before i actually go ahead and scrub it down with pumice and saddle soap and what not, I'm wondering if its entirely necessary.

a) Can I assume that the grit on the leather strop, in its day, would have been fine enough for in-between-shave tune-ups and therefore won't be radically different from the grit of my strop paste?

I bought some red and black DOVO strop pastes and was planning on using the finer one (black) on the leather strop.

b) I'm wondering if the coarser (red) one could be rubbed into the canvas strop or if it is ONLY for leather.

Thanks!

Dylan

You should always have a leather strop and a fabric (linen, denim, etc.) strop that are completely free of paste. Because you use those every shave and you only use pasted strops when the blade starts to get dull.

If there is any doubt that there is paste in your strops, then you should probably go ahead and clean them. But most barbers of that era did not use pasted strops.

You can use paste on other strops, many like to use paddle strops for paste since they are by design always flat and taut. If you are somewhat handy, you can go to a Hobby Lobby and get a nice flat piece of hardwood, glue a layer of balsa wood over it, and use that for a pasted strop.

Hmm wow.. very interesting.. you can use balsa wood to apply paste to?! Have you tried this yourself?


And thanks for the tip about always having one strop (canvas and leather) without pastes. I've really gotten the sense that the leather strop you use between shaves should have a very fine paste on it...

I have my own honing stones (Norton 1000, 4000, 8000). I'm curious now where these strops fit in. Of course, essentially, I need to find what works best for me here, but what is the general rule after I use my 8000? Will I jump to the canvas strop and then the un-pasted leather strop? Or do I use a strop pasted with the red paste and then black paste and then the canvas and un-pasted strop? Or 'should' my razor be shave-ready after the 8000 grit hone?

Originally Posted by ddumitrus

Hmm wow.. very interesting.. you can use balsa wood to apply paste to?! Have you tried this yourself?
And thanks for the tip about always having one strop (canvas and leather) without pastes. I've really gotten the sense that the leather strop you use between shaves should have a very fine paste on it...
I have my own honing stones (Norton 1000, 4000, 8000). I'm curious now where these strops fit in. Of course, essentially, I need to find what works best for me here, but what is the general rule after I use my 8000? Will I jump to the canvas strop and then the un-pasted leather strop? Or do I use a strop pasted with the red paste and then black paste and then the canvas and un-pasted strop? Or 'should' my razor be shave-ready after the 8000 grit hone?

Whew! Well, first, you need to click on the SRP Wiki button and go read up on a bunch of these things. But very quickly:
For some, a good sharp razor off of the 8k Norton is "shave-ready". In terms of sharpness, but maybe not in terms of smoothness. The next step would be perhaps a Shapton 12k stone to put a smooth polish on the edge. OR, you could go to a 0.5 micron diamond pasted strop, followed by a 0.5 micron chrome oxide pasted strop.

You should probably have at the very least a 0.5 micron chrome oxide pasted strop, for use every 5 to 10 shaves just to refresh the blade.

I'm not at all familiar with the red and black pastes, never used them. The Wiki probably has some info on them.... so read, read, read!

Here's a link to making your own balsa paddle strop.

In addition to the Wiki, you can look through the Hones and the Strops Forums here, and ask questions there if you still have some.

You've been really helpful fritz. Thank you!

I'm planning on getting some chromium oxide and making a balsa paddle to apply it to. Along with a CLEAN leather and canvas strop, I will have the following as my sharpening options:

norton 1000 - 14 microns
norton 4000 - 6 microns
norton 8000 - 3 microns
dovo red paste - 3-5 microns
dovo black paste - 1-2 microns
chromium oxide - 0.5 microns

Cheers

I would say that the Dovo red paste would do more harm than good at that point. At 3 microns, it's no improvement over the 8k, and if it has some 4-5 micron grit, you're moving backwards almost to the 4k.

For sure, I don't even know why I put that there. I guess I just meant to say that I have it as an option - but I'd never use it after the 8k.

Yep, I have a 4 sided paddle strop pasted on three sides - CO White - .50/Yellow - 1.0/Green 3.0 4th side reserved for a future choice.

Works like a gem and it will be a long, long time before my straights need a honing.

Pabster