Thread: Dovo white/grey on linen

I usually put half a tube on and it works superb! I don’t know that over applying it will have a negative effect but probably just an over kill.

I only use one tube to cover the linen.

Love that dovo white paste, really improves the linen IMO.

In my opinion, the older strops were given a sizing of ball clay and a couple other ingredients. That is most likely the dirty caking that you see. Early strops were not loaded/ abrasive coated. A home made sizing has held up well for a number of years on my personal strops. It was very similar to the whiting used on early military uniform cross-belts and gaiters of various countries.

In restorations the idea was to scrub the snot out of them and then hang or in some way prevent them from shrinking/ buckling. Many threads on the practice.
JMO
YMMV
~Richard
added:
Thinking about it overnight, I would believe that the purpose was to have a surface that would prevent normal dirt and dust from penetrating the weave, and be fairly easy to maintain.
Also many folks used tallow soap on their strops and so much of the crud will probably be removable.