Thread: *FIRST SHAVE WITH NEW DOVO -- NOWHERE CLOSE!

There seems to be quite a number of posts regarding prehoned Dovo's from Classic lately, especially on some other forums. I thought I would just share my 2c of experience.

I got one a few weeks ago (Dovo Special Tortoise), no honing service. It may have just been my razor, but it was passing the HHT out of the box. Now, I am a rank amateur at honing, but I did 3-5 light passes on the DMT8EE and about 30 on a Spyderco UF, and it is shaving like a dream. Now if I can do that, then I would think there is NO WAY Lynn could not. Or even worse, NO WAY he could do a worse job, even with his eyes closed. I would think the only way you could get a dull razor from him would have been if he did something wrong, which is highly unlikely.

The point is, it is too easy to blame the razor (or the honing).

Originally Posted by RayG

There seems to be quite a number of posts regarding prehoned Dovo's from Classic lately, especially on some other forums.

The main gripe coming from the other forum in particular is from a guy who takes purdy pics, but probably hasn't honed 100 razors in his quest to be known as the King Of Straight Razors. The key here is not self recognition or blame, but to help the new guys. Because I test every one, I am confident that they shave. That said, for what ever reason a new person has troubles, I consider it more important to help that person out, re-hone the razor or do what ever it takes to get him shaving. This is not about recognition or me or defammation of me coming from that person in the other forum. You may see my name more only because I probably hone more razors than any one else out there right now at probably over 10,000. That is changing and there are a lot of more people honing. Anyone who gets on this band wagon other than in helping the new person out is not doing our environment any justice or the person needing the help. I have been asked to hone up razors that were honed by Joel and other real experts out there and never said a word. I normally ask the person to check back with the person who honed the razor first and then if no resolution, I will re-hone the razor. I don't post this in the forums or draw any negative attention to these folks. I have always maintained a gentleman's approach to this in this forum and will continue to do so no matter what the other guys do.

You would not believe the amount of guys who have been so anxious to get the perfect shave the first time and then become immediately frustrated only to tell us that after some practice and a few shaves later they are getting there and loving it.

Have fun,

Lynn

I FULLY agree with evrything Lynn has posted here. I also purchased a Dovo for my first razor, and also had it honed by Lynn before I got it. To my surprise , it was not a very good shave. I NEVER posted here for fear of it coming out the WRONG way and maybe insulting. THANK GOD I DIDN'T!!!!! After a few more trys, Dovo is a great shaver. It was NEVER the razor or the honing, IT WAS ME and my lack of experience in shaving with a straight. The first few shaves are not preety, but don't give up. THE BEST IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER..

P.S. Stay here on the forums as the info you can gather here is PRICELESS!!!!
Thank you all that help us new guys here.

I'm gonna respond to this one, because our situations are extremely similar. I went from a dull mach3 to a shavette with dorco blades to a straight that i bought from b/s/t, shave ready. The shaves from the shavette were extremely easy, close but i was bleeding more than ever, very thin weepers that i didnt even feel. but the 1 pass shave was amazing. When i received my blade in the mail, i immediately shaved with it and was disappointed that after 1 pass i still had stubble. I reread the boards and found that beard reduction rather than removal was the standard, and i now do a 3 pass shave. I have been shaving with the same straight for about 3 months and my shaves are still not as baby smooth as i used to get with the shavette, but i cut myself less and each shave i learn some new trick to work the problem areas. A really good trick that i learned is to wrap some newspaper around a wooden board and strop on that about a 100-200 times and it will refresh your blade very well. i strop on newspaper almost every shave because i like a very sharp edge, though some like a mellower edge.. you will notice little nuances that you would never see with a disposable because after a few shaves you throw the blade away and start over. All i can say is i was very skeptical that the blade i received was not shave ready but after a week or so i realized my technique required some tweaking and its a blast to learn. good luck!

I having some trouble getting used to my professionally honed straight as well. I've become extremely comfortable with my Dovo Shavette with Fromm blades. But my new TI just isn't as easy to use. I'm looking forward to improving my skills, but it's really tempting to just keep using the Dovo since the results are so good.

Must focus.
Must stay on course.

Unlike MANY of you, I've never had the experience of using a Shavette or DE. The only other shaving experiences I've had include the Mach3, M3Turbo, and electrics. The jump to straights, for me, was MUCH different than the first impressions in some of your posts. Night and Day difference, really.

Looks like the Shavette would be good practice for the "hold" and angles, but then you miss out on the stropping/honing (and from hearsay, control) of a straight.

Not knocking shavettes or DE's in any way...like I said, I've never had the opportunity to try them out.

Originally Posted by coachmike

I FULLY agree with evrything Lynn has posted here. I also purchased a Dovo for my first razor, and also had it honed by Lynn before I got it. To my surprise , it was not a very good shave. I NEVER posted here for fear of it coming out the WRONG way and maybe insulting. THANK GOD I DIDN'T!!!!! After a few more trys, Dovo is a great shaver. It was NEVER the razor or the honing, IT WAS ME and my lack of experience in shaving with a straight. The first few shaves are not preety, but don't give up. THE BEST IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER..

P.S. Stay here on the forums as the info you can gather here is PRICELESS!!!!
Thank you all that help us new guys here.

Just wrote a long reply to this and was cut off by a glitch in srp when i hit sumit. Piss me off. Well I mirror what you just said and added some long additions. Oh well, such is life. Once you learn life is difficult, things get much easier.

Gary

Originally Posted by cwrighta70

Unlike MANY of you, I've never had the experience of using a Shavette or DE. The only other shaving experiences I've had include the Mach3, M3Turbo, and electrics. The jump to straights, for me, was MUCH different than the first impressions in some of your posts. Night and Day difference, really.

Looks like the Shavette would be good practice for the "hold" and angles, but then you miss out on the stropping/honing (and from hearsay, control) of a straight.

Not knocking shavettes or DE's in any way...like I said, I've never had the opportunity to try them out.

Persistence beats resistance. I did the Mach3 (10 years)->electric(2 years)->DE(2 months)-> Straight path. I have been shaving with a straight for about 3 weeks, give or take and have only just begun to get a slice free comfortable shave, even now it's not perfect but it's pretty damn close. Persist and you will get it.

Ps. Day 1 was terrible in comparison to the shave I get now. I had scratches all over my face, not to mention 3 line cuts.

Well said Lynn!

I find more often than not it is technique at first, not the razor but I know that EL who hones for me will always offer to re-hone, just in case.

I had one fellow ever return a razor for honing, I opened it and had a perfect shave just as it arrived. We later figured it was technique and haste in the beginning, not the razor.

In the end, getting people started right is what we all want.

Tony

M first razor was a brand new dovo and it shaved like a steak nife absalutly terrible. I sold it on ebay. Then i purchased some shave ready razors of rob keyes on ebay. And they actualy shaved me i found one razor to be better than the other. I am waiting on a dovo from the same chap. I find straight razors to be decieving as they make a scraping sound and can sound blunt even though there not. I have also just brough a brand new dovo the same as the one i brought before i paid £35.00 (trade retail about £65.00). And this one does shave slightly better but i am going to practice on this one by lightly honing on my 4k/8k 12000 kitayama stone which i have just purchased along with my lynn abrams DVD. It was only untill i did some research i relised brand new razors never come shave ready i would bet my bottom dollar yours is no where ready to shave with you need to get it touched up with some honing i dought stropping will get it shave ready. It is very frustrating as i have been, and nearly given up but i had realy good shave this morning . and now it starting to feel worth it i carn't wait to shave again. cheers gary.