Well, I received my Dovo 5/8 today from Tony Miller. I decided to test it out with a partial shave. I had a little problem with the lather, but I'm using a cheep boar bristle brush that came with Tony's straight razor starters kit. I ordered a Vulfix 2234 Super Badger brush (22mm I believe, faux ivory) last night, so hopefully I'll be able to get better results with my lather. I had a problem with the lather staying moist on my face--it was drying out mid-shave.

I also did not strop the razor before shaving. I wanted to give it a test shave before trying stropping, in case I mess the edge up.

Anyway, I took my time going along my right cheek. Wasn't the closest shave in the world, but that should come after the learning curve has toned down. The blade glided very smoothly across the cheek (I went WTG). I got a little brave and decided to try a stroke on the neck. Nicked myself twice, and I don't think I removed any of the hair on that stroke. Then I tried my left cheek and the results were poorer than the left side, but that's because of the awkward angle (I kept the razor in my right hand) but I didn't nick myself that that's always good . Finished the rest off with the ol' Mach3.


Anyhow, I thought overall it was a pretty good first (partial) shave. I now have a little expectation of how shaving like this works and can only practice and get better.

PS. The 4 sided paddle strop I bought from Tony didn't have any paste on it. I didn't quite understand what the pastes did before I ordered last week, but now I wished that I added the option to have the other three sides pasted. Oh well, I guess I can always add it later.