Thread: Using Dovo White

Originally Posted by Pearlcaster

Any reason you couldn't just run a piece of chalk over the strop and rub it in with your hand?

The chalk wont stay on the strop without the paste. As you strop, the dust will just fall off the material. Rather like beating a dusty carpet! You also wouldnt be able to apply enough chalk in this way. The paste ensures you get a good covering and sticks it to the material. Just rubbing it on might get some on, but certainly not enough to affect the edge.

Its the same reason people apply CrOx powder with mineral oil; Just rubbing some on wont get enough onto the strop, and what goes on wont stay on.

Originally Posted by Pearlcaster

Any reason you couldn't just run a piece of chalk over the strop and rub it in with your hand?

It'll just create a lot of chalk dust. Because the strop is flexing and bouncing as you're rubbing the chalk on it comes out nearly as fast as it goes on. Rubbing it with your hand just gets it on your hand. Then stropping on it will cause more bouncing and flexing which will quickly remove the rest of the chalk.

You need some sort of paste to hold it together and on the strop and in the fibers. The dovo paste isn't expensive and lasts for several applications, easily several years worth of use.

Originally Posted by Stubear

Its the same reason people apply CrOx powder with mineral oil; Just rubbing some on wont get enough onto the strop, and what goes on wont stay on.

That's not entirely true. Though mineral oil makes a great medium for chrome ox (which is what I have on my balsa paddle) some members advocate stropping on newspaper with chrome sprinkled on top. Though I've never done it myself, and I haven't seen a stropping-on-newsprint thread in a while, it's suppose to yield good results.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

That's not entirely true. Though mineral oil makes a great medium for chrome ox (which is what I have on my balsa paddle) some members advocate stropping on newspaper with chrome sprinkled on top. Though I've never done it myself, and I haven't seen a stropping-on-newsprint thread in a while, it's suppose to yield good results.

True enough, but newspaper is a throwaway strop so the chromeox doesn't need to stay on for more than one use. One of the reasons this works so well btw is that you get better edges with less abrasive but there's a tendency for new guys to overpaste their strops, so the fact that the newspaper tends to shed the abrasive works in their favor here. But newspaper strops don't *need* to hold on to the abrasive since they're not durable enough for more than a few uses anyway.

Originally Posted by mparker762

True enough, but newspaper is a throwaway strop so the chromeox doesn't need to stay on for more than one use. One of the reasons this works so well btw is that you get better edges with less abrasive but there's a tendency for new guys to overpaste their strops, so the fact that the newspaper tends to shed the abrasive works in their favor here. But newspaper strops don't *need* to hold on to the abrasive since they're not durable enough for more than a few uses anyway.

Thanks for the info mp. Though I probably have enough chrome to last many many years, or even half a lifetime (if I conserve) I haven't brought myself to try this method yet.

anyone know where I can buy just the white Dovo Paste? Classic only sells it as part of a set with the red, green, and yellow tubes which I doubt I would ever use.

Originally Posted by superbleu

anyone know where I can buy just the white Dovo Paste? Classic only sells it as part of a set with the red, green, and yellow tubes which I doubt I would ever use.

You can buy just the white from classicshaving.com

There is a drop down box on the page where you can select the color you want.

Originally Posted by NYCshaver

You can buy just the white from classicshaving.com

There is a drop down box on the page where you can select the color you want.

Ahh, thanks. I didn't even pay attention.

now I need 95.01 worth of padding(more stuff I don't need) so I can get free shipping.

Well I figured "why not try, nothing to lose" so I took a piece of blackboard chalk (my wife is an elementary school teacher) and rubbed it on a linen strop. I then rubbed it around with my fingertips until it was evenly distributed. It works PERFECTLY! So much for hypothesizing what will probably happen without trying it, and so much for paying $5-$8 for a scintilla of really cheap stuff.

How many times have you used it? I tried this a year ago, and got tired of reapplying the chalk every few times.