Quote Originally Posted by EvilDylan View Post
I just purchased a dovo carbon straight, and out of the box i tried the ball of the thumb test and it felt very very sharp. I then tried the HHT and it was flawless. I decided not to hone or to strop and it was the best shave I've had.

Is this normal to receive a razor with a seemingly perfect edge?
I bought a new DOVO in October 2007. I had the same experience as you. It came shave-ready out of its sealed box. Don't know if it performed the HHT, 'cause I had not learned about that test back then, but it gave me about 7 or 8 decent "newbie" shaves. I did WTG & ATG passes right from day 1. Dovo states somewhere on their website that their razors are packed and sealed shave-ready. As far as I can tell, they meet that promise. Probably not ultimate sharp-sharp, like some of the honemeisters can do it, but sharp enough to get a decent shave.
They probably don't take the time to put such the ultimate edge on it, 'cause time being money and all, but from a marketing viewpoint it would be very stupid to ship them so blunt it would dissapoint the customer with their product from day one. I believe most of their razors will shave. Just maybe not all as smooth as they could (or should).