Thread: Help me!

Just purchased my new Dovo razor, from manufactures which said shave ready. Had my first shave, no nicks! but feel it dragged a bit and had previously failed the hair test. Used my Norton 4/8 stone to hone it and think i have made things worse. As it is still a new blade and i have been careful not to apply to much pressure, how many passes on the 4 grit should be enough assuming i am performing the correct technique? Then how many passes on the 8?

you should be work on 8k side and that would be good enough.try 10-15 passes on 8k side and light strop see what happens.when blade is shave ready( almost)you don't use 4k side.good luck and let us know how is improvement .

If you are going to go with just the Norton 4/8 you should only have to follow the conservative pyramid to bring it up to shaving sharp....
That being said keep in mind that honing is truly an art that needs to be learned over time it is definitely not a science.... I gotta also ask, are you sure it was pre-honed, all the Dovo's say Factory honed but that does not mean "Shave Ready" Most of the Shave Ready razors will have a sticker on there saying "honed by"

http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwi...d_Honing_Guide

You also do not mention stropping the razor, which is essential...

STOP! Are you sure you want to learn to hone on that brand new DOVO? It seems to have a factory edge and its not yet shave ready. My suggestion is this, send the razor out to be honed by one of the honers here at SRP, myself or GSSIXGUN or one of several others. This will get your razor shave ready,and fun to use,save it from a learning curve. While you are learning to enjoy the shave the DOVO has to offer you can learn to hone on a less expensive razor using the DOVO as a benchmark.

+1 what nun2sharp's post thanks you saved me some typing

Thanks for your replies. I found this on the Internet.

'A message from DOVO STAHLWAREN:

Straight razors leaving our company are always ready for shave, they are honed and stropped and pass the so called ‘Hair Test’ giving evidence of ultimate cutting. Then all razors are carefully wrapped, boxed and sealed to guarantee our workmanship. ***'

Just to confirm with you, I did strop before the shave and I have used both sides on the 4/8 grit Norton. As it appears I have made things worse, I will be taking your advice to get it professionally honed. What would be the procedure now if I were to try to hone it correctly on my Norton?

Cheers guys!

you would be much better off sending that new Dovo to one of the honemeisters listed on this site that way there you will at least know what a well honed straight razor feels like and you will have a benchmark to compare any future honing attempts to, plus as a new straight shaver it will make the shave much easier.

honing is one of the hardest things to learn as there are just so many variables and a lot of it comes from experience, you can get all the info here and I recommend Lynn's DVD but unless you have something to compare it to it is much more difficult, and there is no substitute for experience

Personally as I said I would send that one out and then buy a used straight to learn to hone on rather then risk ruining a new razor.

Here's what I did first when I got into straight razor shaving: I got a brand new razor with a factory edge (like your dovo) which also pulled and didn't shave very well, then I sent it to Lynn Abrams to be honed and after that the blade glides over the skin. So I got an old inexpensive razor on ebay to practice my honing. So I would recomend you do the same, so you 1 practice your honing 2 have a shave ready razor as a benchmark 3 so you dont ruin you new expensive razor.

Originally Posted by Rawaz

Here's what I did first when I got into straight razor shaving: I got a brand new razor with a factory edge (like your dovo) which also pulled and didn't shave very well, then I sent it to Lynn Abrams to be honed and after that the blade glides over the skin. So I got an old inexpensive razor on ebay to practice my honing. So I would recomend you do the same, so you 1 practice your honing 2 have a shave ready razor as a benchmark 3 so you dont ruin you new expensive razor.

+1 What Rawaz said is the way to go. It took me many inexpensive razors but I'm not a quick study ....... just a persistent one.

I have seen the DOVO production video and I know they hone and strop and even do the hair test, I did not see anybody shave with them, if you dont shave with them , how do you know its shave ready?
Send it out to be honed, you'll be glad you did!