Thread: Dovo white/grey on linen

I have a linen strop with Dovo white/grey paste on one side. Two tubes covered it well with the fabric weave still visible. I recently saw an old strop at an antique shop and the linen was caked with the stuff. Should I have put more on, or was the old one I saw overapplied?

Two tubes? That sounds plenty to me

my Dovo strop with fabric weave came with white paste applied and the weave was also still visible


Hard to judge without pics, but 2 tubes should more than suffice I would think


I have the V-weave type and I like mine a lot, I find it a very good strop

Thanks. I was hoping for that answer. I guess the old strop I saw was maintained by someone who subscribes to the if more is better then too much is just right school of thought (something I have been guilty of too many times).

Originally Posted by Jmgaragnani

Thanks. I was hoping for that answer. I guess the old strop I saw was maintained by someone who subscribes to the if more is better then too much is just right school of thought (something I have been guilty of too many times).

For the other colors of pastes (abrasive ones) I don't think it's a good thing to overdress, the white shouldn't be very harmless if over applied

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.