Thread: A Barbers first Solid Straight Shave

Hey All,

As the title says, I am a barber and today I used my "presharpened" DOVO Bismark on my barbed wire face.
My usual shaving habits kicked in (Hot towel then lather) the only change is that I let the lather sit in while I stroped the razor for 10 cycles. I love the look, the feel, and the sound of the razor but I'm not sure that it was that sharp. I'm used to using the disposable straight razors which are rediculously sharp and cheap. The biggest difference was the blade coverage area. A disposable is a little less than 2" as opposed to the 3 or more inches of the DOVO, but I like the extra coverage as It requires less strokes, but while I was able to get a decent shave, it wasn't as close as my disposable.
I'm sure for obvious reasons, a disposable will ALWAYS give you a sharp edge, but was I wrong to use the DOVO without honing it a bit more? -- WAY before the shave I used the linen strop 5 cycles then did the hair test.
I've shaved myself and clients with a barbers straight razor for 2 years and have gotten used to having a sharp edge just "there" the DOVO felt sharp and did cut the hair but wasn't sharp enough for me. Should I put that aside and work with the eBay practice razor (which I should be getting soon)?


Other than that, the experience was WAY worth it. Thanks to this forum I discovered Thayers and am feeling better about learning the ORIGINAL straight shave.
Thanks all

I've heard of all the planets aligning for some members where they luck out and get a shaving edge straight from the factory. That has not happened to me with the few new razors I've purchased and the norm is that it simply does not happen very often.

I received a new TI Super Gnome Extra directly from TI just yesterday after sending them a defective one about six months ago. I stropped it about 100 times and gave it a test shave out of curiosity; definitely not shave ready. I stopped after my cheeks and WTG on my neck. To the hones it goes.

Chris L

I am not sure. I believe most people feel the shavetter type of razors are sharper than where most people keep their straights are. Then I think I read it's more of a perception since the DE blades have special coatings.

I am not sure what the presharpened razors are. I see them on more models @ classicshaving, but I have no idea who honed them. In the past Lynn Abrams did the honing for classicshaving, but perhaps these 'presharpened' ones come after extra care at the factory. You can give classic a call and see if you can find out.

In any case if you want as sharp blade as a DE, I think the bismark will support it. After some honing practice you should be able to get there yourself, or you can take the shortcut and ask one of the 'honemeisters' if they could do that. And then there's the more resistance from the extra width of the blade that could be perceived as duller blade, but I think you probably have enough experience to not be confusing it with that.

you can almost certainly give that blade a touch up to get it where it needs to be. Also, 10 laps is decidedly too few on the strop. I do 60 laps before each shave. We've done the research (The Grand Experiment threads) and this is an optimal stropping routine.

X

I took delivery of a 'pre-sharpened' razor from Classic last week and I have to say that the sharpness of the blade was excellent. I guess it depends what is meant by 'pre-sharpened'. I don't think very many razors leave the factory as shave ready. Manufacturers may say they are, but most members would disagree.

Unless something changed while I've been keeping a low profile, those blades are honed by Lynn and that means that they're as sharp as they can be. While disposable blades are still sharper, you can get a better shave from a straight as long as you do it correctly. A few suggestions:
1) At least 20 laps on the strop. I do 30
2) Watch your angle as that has a HUGE role
3) Stretch the skin
4) Restrop 15-20 times on the leather between passes

My results have been about 50/50 with factory new razors. Today I decide to try a carbon steel DOVO that had been unused.The edge looked great but it wasn't quite shave ready. Instead a honing I went at it with both linen and leather. After stropping it for about 20 minutes, I looked at it through a 10X loupe-the edge looked perfect.I passed the shaving test with flying colors and is now in my rotation.

I seem to have better results with carbon steel than with stainless factory blades.