Dovo white paste

Huxley · May 8, 2010

Ok i've been reading up on this and i've heard it can be used for every day use without damaging the edge, i currently have flexcut gold and im about to give cromox a go, i currently use them every shave or every other until i get the gist of what works for me.

But how fine is the dovo i take it it's an ultra fine diamond paste?

What is it like in use and is it fine on balsa, i have a cheap strop, buffalo leather and what looks like black felt on the other side i presume it'll work with either depending on my preference?

professorchaos · May 8, 2010

I do not think Dovo's white paste is considered to be an abrasive.

jtrops · May 8, 2010

My understanging is that the Dovo white paste is very mildly abrasive, but that it's real purpose is to treat the linen strop. I read somewhere that it's essentially a chalk paste.

I was always under the impression that my vintage linen was treated with something like it. My linen has a bit more draw than my leather strop, and it seems to remove a bit of material. Over the past few years I've seem my linen go from white to having grayish bands that follow my stropping pattern.

Neil Miller · May 8, 2010

The original white paste was/is chalk based - a mild abrasive. What confuses the issue is that the yellow paste - a tallow based leather conditioner which is not abrasive - is often referred to as white paste too. If you buy what is described as white paste and it has a yellow band on it, it is not for the fabric side - its the leather conditioner. The proper white (abrasive) paste has a white band on it. Whatever, linen is mildly abrasive anyway.

Regards,
Neil

cityjim · May 8, 2010

tooth paste is what you need .

cityjim

mparker762 · May 8, 2010

Huxley said:
But how fine is the dovo i take it it's an ultra fine diamond paste?

The dovo white paste is chalk in some sort of carrier liquid, and intended for use on the linen side. It is abrasive but only mildly so, and is suitable for daily use. How fine it is is actually kind of irrelevant, it's probably fairly coarse but because it's so soft it doesn't remove much steel. It's not a good way to sharpen the razor but it does a good job of keeping the razor's edge sharp and polished. The Dovo strops come pre-coated with it, FWIW. It's good stuff.

azmark · May 8, 2010

mparker762 said:
The dovo white paste is chalk in some sort of carrier liquid, and intended for use on the linen side. It is abrasive but only mildly so, and is suitable for daily use. How fine it is is actually kind of irrelevant, it's probably fairly coarse but because it's so soft it doesn't remove much steel. It's not a good way to sharpen the razor but it does a good job of keeping the razor's edge sharp and polished. The Dovo strops come pre-coated with it, FWIW. It's good stuff.

+1

I don't use it on a regular basis, it actually feels pretty harsh IMO. I only use it when I hone or touch up on stones then take it lightly to crox to smooth it out. I have it on cotton so I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Huxley · May 9, 2010

Oh well if it feels pretty harsh then i might swing it a miss least for now, i have my eye on one of those srp modular strops so i might have a play in the future.

Cheers guys.

cityjim · May 9, 2010

tooth paste leaves a buttery smooth edge .

cityjim

Seraphim · May 10, 2010

cityjim said:
tooth paste leaves a buttery smooth edge .

cityjim

Particularly effective on razors that have a smile....

honed · May 10, 2010

Seraphim said:
Particularly effective on razors that have a smile....

And Ivory scales :lol:

Bart · May 12, 2010

mparker762 said:
The dovo white paste is chalk in some sort of carrier liquid, and intended for use on the linen side. It is abrasive but only mildly so, and is suitable for daily use. How fine it is is actually kind of irrelevant, it's probably fairly coarse but because it's so soft it doesn't remove much steel. It's not a good way to sharpen the razor but it does a good job of keeping the razor's edge sharp and polished. The Dovo strops come pre-coated with it, FWIW. It's good stuff.

A perfect explanation, in my opinion.

I don't recognize azmark's statement about harshness, from my own experiences with Dovo white paste. Of course, it may totally depend on differences in honing setup, so I'm not disputing azmark's experience with it. Just adding another date point.

For the first 2 and a half years of my straight shaving career, I used a Dovo strop that came prepasted with the stuff (It's the strop with the V-weaved pattern in the canvas). Then I fell in love with the Old Traditional strop, which doesn't have a linen (or canvas). I kept using the linen on the Dovo. But the Dovo is much shorter than the Old Traditional. It felt awkward to change my stroke length each time I went from the linen to the leather, so I started looking for a replacement. Eventually I ordered a Tony Miller genuine linen, made on order to match width and length of the Old Traditional. The genuine linen feels considerably coarser, but it was clearly less efficient than the Dovo canvas.
On a freshly honed razor, I would not notice any difference, at least not when the hit the sweet spot on the hones. But every once in a while a razor turns out just a hint below expectations. In that case, the Dovo canvas (with white paste) had the advantage over the untreated TM linen.
The same happens when the edge starts to decline after a good number of shaves. At a given point the untreated TM gives up on reviving the edge to its original condition. The Dovo still has some margin at that point.
After several month of going back and forth between the Dovo canvas and the TM linen, I made up my mind and applied about a quarter tube of Dovo white to the TM linen.
It absolutely performs on par with the Dovo now.

I finish all my razors on a Coticule, which is hard to beat for edge smoothness, in my opinion and experience. I never got the impression that the Dovo white paste altered the finished feel of an edge. It just seems to add efficiency to the stropping procedure.

Kind regards,
Bart.

Seraphim · May 12, 2010

Bart said:
A perfect explanation, in my opinion.

I don't recognize azmark's statement about harshness, from my own experiences with Dovo white paste. Of course, it may totally depend on differences in honing setup, so I'm not disputing azmark's experience with it. Just adding another date point.

For the first 2 and a half years of my straight shaving career, I used a Dovo strop that came prepasted with the stuff (It's the strop with the V-weaved pattern in the canvas). Then I fell in love with the Old Traditional strop, which doesn't have a linen (or canvas). Do I kept using the linen on the Dovo. But the Dovo is much shorter than the Old Traditional. It felt awkward to change my stroke length each time I went from the linen to the leather, so I started looking for a replacement. Eventually I ordered a Tony Miller genuine linen, made on order to match width and length of the Old Traditional. The genuine linen feels considerably coarser, but it was clearly less efficient than the Dovo canvas.
On a freshly honed razor, I would not notice any difference, at least not when the hit the sweet spot on the hones. But every once in a while a razor turns out just a hint below expectations. In that case, the Dovo canvas (with white paste) had the advantage over the untreated TM linen.
The same happens when the edge starts to decline after a good number of shaves. At a given point the untreated TM gives up on reviving the edge its original condition. The Dovo still has some margin at that point.
After several month of going back and forth between the Dovo canvas and the TM linen, I made up my mind and applied about a quarter tube of Dovo white to the TM linen.
It absolutely performs on par with the Dovo now.

I finish all my razors on a Coticule, which is hard to beat for edge smoothness, in my opinion and experience. I never got the impression that the Dovo white paste altered the finished feel of an edge. It just seems to add efficiency to the stropping procedure.

Kind regards,
Bart.

What he said! :thumbup:

azmark · May 12, 2010

Bart said:
I don't recognize azmark's statement about harshness

I think I miss spoke with the "harshness" effect. I only use the white when I hone or touch ups, I feel it gives a little more keenness and the crox smoothes it out (I never said I was normal :huh:

). One thing is that I like sharp but my face feels that there is a too sharp effect which is why I can't use the white daily. Also why I have fell in love with coticule edges over synthetic stones.

Also, take my recommendations with a grain of salt. I have to turn the lights on and off 10 times before I strop or else the world will implode :lol:

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