Dovo Red & Black pastes

At my latest trip to the store that sells SR relating goodies, the owner and I talked ad nauseam about anything SR.

There was one thing he sounded really fond of, and reading in older threads many others were as well, is the Dovo pastes, in particularly he talked about the red paste.

I was wondering if anyone has used the Dovo pastes - Red and Black and what your opinions are about them.

Before ordering them myself, I'd like to hear how you like 'em and what they bring to the table.


I was kind of a guy that said a well honed edge don't need pastes, but I'd still like to experiment and am curious about the results

I found that as my honing improved I only use my pasted balsa and felt paddle to refresh an edge between honing rather than as a finishing step.

I used and liked the red and black pastes for quite a while, using them after a coticule. I learned to hone in France and that's sort of how it's done there by many. I picked up a small, Solingen-style loom strop at a vide-grenier (sort of a collective garage sale held by a town or village) and sanded the sides to 180x and loaded one side with the red crayon and the other side with the black crayon. Paste is rubbed onto the thumbpad and then rubbed onto the leather from there. Red paste advances the coticule edge, leaving a closer shave from my experience and the black paste refines this. The last couple of years I've moved away from pastes, though, using natural stones like a purple Welsh slate instead or even Rhode Island cumberlandite, the latter of which sort of taking things back to the pastes in question as it contains ferric oxide.

OH YEAH!! Pastes! NOM, NOM.

I used Dovo pastes a lot back in the day. My preference is the green. I put it on little strip of balsa that I glued to hardwood. Loved it. I guess I would still love it, but I tried to narrow the "things" in my den, so I ultimately narrowed it down to a felt strop with a little diamond paste and CrOx. I'll pull the paddles out now and again and use em now and again. Just add a little water to get em lively again.

I'm not going to lie, both systems give me nice smooth shaves ... and allow me to be sloppy on the stones. Which is how I got to pastes to start with.

I finally ordered the double package of the red and black paste, will probably arrive next week, I'll keep yinz posted on the outcome of the pastes

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TristanLudlow

I finally ordered the double package of the red and black paste, will probably arrive next week, I'll keep yinz posted on the outcome of the pastes

---

What are you going to paste them on? I would suggest either a loom strop or vegetable-tanned leather sanded to give it some tooth before pasting. Russian leather wouldn't need sanding.

I have heard good things about dovo pastes. I personally have only used the green Puma paste which I have applied on a loom strop. I believe both pastes are made by the same company, Herold, in Solingen.

Pastes are a great tool to have in your shaving arsenal. I like to use them between honings or occasionally after honing to give a razor an extra push.

Here is a useful thread that discusses dovo pastes:

https://straightrazorpalace.com/stro...p-paste-2.html

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

What are you going to paste them on? I would suggest either a loom strop or vegetable-tanned leather sanded to give it some tooth before pasting. Russian leather wouldn't need sanding.

---

I have a Herold Loom Strop with the red leather side for pastes, so I think that should be a good way to start; I'm actually using that side unpasted already, not sure if it does anything, but it feels good stropping on before going to smooth leather.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Badgister

I have heard good things about dovo pastes. I personally have only used the green Puma paste which I have applied on a loom strop. I believe both pastes are made by the same company, Herold, in Solingen.

Pastes are a great tool to have in your shaving arsenal. I like to use them between honings or occasionally after honing to give a razor an extra push.

Here is a useful thread that discusses dovo pastes:

https://straightrazorpalace.com/stro...p-paste-2.html

---

Thanks, will check it out!

I'm curious to see how you like the black paste. I never tried that one (I have nonabrasive yellow and red)

I like pastes. Have used them for years. My favorites are the Thiers-Issard White and the Dovo Red. I find they keep an edge going for a loooong time with no degradation in quality....YMMV and all that

Yes, they work, tried them years ago. Most fine paste will eventually remove all visible stria from a bevel and further straighten an edge, depending on the condition of the bevels and the aggressiveness of the paste. The white is Diamond, I believe.

There are better paste option, depending on what you are after. For me CBN or Diamond paste in the Nano grit range .50 to .10um are aggressive and laser edge producing.

For experimentation, unprinted cardboard, inside of a cereal or shirt box are excellent medium. Glued to a board or use flat on the edge of a table or work bench. Once you settle on a paste, then paste leather, canvas or linen. Once applied, paste can never be fully removed.

I like Poly Canvas sail cloth as a Nano grit substrate or Pellon. A Yard of sailcloth or Pellon cost about $10 here and will produce 9 or 10 strops. You can cut the strops to size and because of the weave will not unravel. There are some old post on making these strops without sewing.

I absolutely like the red and black paste.
They definitely improve my edges.

After honing on my finishing stone I go red -> black -> white/chalk -> leather. With outstanding results.

For beginners (or anyone else) a Naniwa progression finished on the 12K -> red paste -> black paste -> linen / chalk -> leather => Outstanding edges that are VERY hard to beat.

Very smooth and easy shaving.


I also like what it does with my Coticule edges.

I wasn't big on pastes at first, but they're wonderful and I will continue using them!

I'm a fan with the dovo pastes too, though I find I take more from it on softer steels than harder ones. The red is pretty course though and I don't use it on anything but the most degraded edges. Coming off either a Naniwa 12k or a coticule I would suggest skipping the red altogether and just using the black.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TristanLudlow

I absolutely like the red and black paste.
They definitely improve my edges.

After honing on my finishing stone I go red -> black -> white/chalk -> leather. With outstanding results.

For beginners (or anyone else) a Naniwa progression finished on the 12K -> red paste -> black paste -> linen / chalk -> leather => Outstanding edges that are VERY hard to beat.

Very smooth and easy shaving.


I also like what it does with my Coticule edges.

I wasn't big on pastes at first, but they're wonderful and I will continue using them!

---

I generally go from my coticule to finish on a Vermio or CrOx on balsa. I know there is CrOx and there is CrOx. I have a container of Thiers-Issard CrOx in oil that I will probably pass on when I die and wonder how the Dovo pastes compare to CrOx.

I agree that the red paste is unnecessary coming off the 12K, my bad

The black is outstanding paste, sadly I can't make the comparison to CrOx as I have no used it yet. But feeling how good my results are from the black paste, I'm intrigued by pasted strops.


12K to black paste is amazing and might be my best edge to date. It does everything with a synthetic edge that you like, it gives it a smoother and finer cut. Efortless shave very sharp and very smooth. Also, skin friendly.

I think I can notice a slight difference between Coti -> black paste and 12K -> black paste, but both shave really well.


Also, I have a Grelot that has been really tough to get right, hard steel, the pastes did a really great job on it.
I did quite a good amount of strokes on the pastes though, but it worked like a charm on a razor I was never able to get right with only stones.

The pastes work and they work really well!

The white chalk paste is also really good in all honesty, I'm a fan.

Tried another test shave,

I had a full hollow, half hollow and near wedge that shaved relatively well, but not "perfect". I had a hard time using only my stones to perfect it.
I decided to do a few laps on the Naniwa 8K and 12K followed by black paste, yup, definite improvement.

Shaves were better, easier and smoother than before. This has quickly become my very favorite way of finishing my razors, the shaves leave nothing to be desired. Whereas a 12K could be a bit sharp / "harsh" and the Coticule a bit "dull" or crispy, the black paste cures it and improves upon it.


I've now finished 5 razors on the black paste and all came back as perfect shaving edges for me. I was especially pleasantly surprised by how well the near wedge shaved.

Can highly recommend.