Thread: dressing for linen side of strop question

thanks 4 the help, ya really dont learn a whole lot about honing and stropping in barber college.

In counterpoint, let me say that I completely disagree with the above two gentlemen.

I put Dovo white on my canvas strop, and I laid it on thick enough to fill in the weave (which is what it is designed to do).


It has a very mild abrasive quality, far less than that of Cromox, and daily use is not only allowed, but strongly encoraged! Daily use of the Dovo white keeps your razors in top form.



Here's a thread with more opinions on the matter.

From Classic's website

Canvas Strop



The Canvas or Linen Strop is generally used before final stropping on the leather strop. It's purpose is to provide a very honing to the razor's edge, replacing most of the keenness which was lost in it's last use. While it has proven effective for this purpose, it will not sharpen a dull razor but will extend the period between honings.

This strop is composed of high quality linen or silk woven into a fine or coarse texture.



A fine-textured linen strop is most desirable for putting a lasting edge on a razor. To obtain the best results, a new canvas strop should be thoroughly broken in. A daily hand finish will keep its surface smooth and ready for stropping. For a hand finish, the canvas strop is given the following treatment:

• Attach the swivel end of the strop to a fixed point, such asanail.
  
• Lay the strop flat on a smooth and level surface and hold the unsecured end firmly.
• Rub a bar of dry soap over the strop, working it well intothe grain of the canvas.
• Rub a smooth glass bottle over strop several times, each time forcing the soap into the grain and also removing excess soap.

Many modern Linen strops often come from the manufacturer pre-treated with a very fine chalk-based abrasive. These strops are generally quite stiff when new and do not require any break-in though their performance does improve with use. Over time the chalk abrasive may be worn away. It can be replaced with Linen Strop Paste, which is itself chalk-based and usually is either white or gray in color.

Seraphim

How many tubes of white paste did it take to cover the cotton strop to that degree?

Thanks,
Tony

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Seraphim

How many tubes of white paste did it take to cover the cotton strop to that degree?

Thanks,
Tony

One entire tube of Dovo white does a strop. Have you ever tried it, Tony?

I will now!

I have the white paste but honestly never used it much. After working with a bunch of NOS strops, all of which are coated with chalk I am interested in trying to achieve the same thing.

Tony

interesting. is the idea then that once you use a tube to coat the whole linen side, you dont need to add any regularly? or you need one to coat it, and another to add regularly? when I used the dovo white on dovo linen, I needed FAR less than a whole tube to get it what seemed pretty well coated.

also, I understand that "pastes" are best for use smoothing/finishing after honing, but does that apply to the dovo yellow? that just seemed like a yellow/fat leather conditioner. hard to imagine that could have any disadvantage, other than keeping the leather nice and moist and supple, and maybe increasing draw/friction a bit?

and while we're ont he subject, anyone have any experience with the T-I sharpening paste? (see e.g. Thiers-Issard Razor Sharpening Paste) sounds like a mix of a CROX-type thing with a diamond paste. not sure what micron this corresponds to, but seems like a nice easy way to refresh the razor. but is it really possible to effectively combine the sharpening and smoothing/finishing into one step? in general with such things, shortcuts that try to combine steps just never work as well, in my experience. (you can't combinee sanding 100-grit and then 200-grit into one step.)

Years ago, when Ray from Classic was still alive, he gave me a bunch of Dovo pastes including the white and some of the TI white paste.

As far as the Dovo white paste, I tried it on several vintage strops back then, using it with the cotton and linen strops and really never noticed any appreciable difference as a result of having put it on the strop. I never used a full tube, but used enough to coat the strop pretty well. You definitely have to let it dry before using and once does it darkens on the strop quickly with use.

Normally the edge on a razor should last someone with regular beard growth, using the same razor every day, 2-3 months before it starts to dull and needs to be honed or refreshed. I think the test on this would be to see how long you can go before needing a touch up or honing as a result of using the paste rather than a proclamation at 30 days that your razor is still sharp (which it should be anyway). It would also be interesting to see what the results are with a variety of razors, vintage and new and from various manufacturers.

I have not tested the white paste with the poly webbing material and may to see if any difference than what I got from cotton and linen.

On the TI white paste, it actually will make a razor sharper sometimes. If I line up 10 razors fresh off the hones and do 10 strokes ( I also experimented at 15 strokes and 20 strokes, but found 10 was optimal for me) with the TI white on either the back of a leather strop or on the cotton or linen strop, I could normally rely on 3-4 of them really providing a nice shave. I played with this stuff for months. I never could figure out what razor it was going to work on, what razor it would dull and what razor it would seem to do nothing on. The TI white paste really loads up quickly and turns black almost from the first razor that hits it.

Have fun,

Lynn