Not sharp enough?

I just ordered a Dovo, and I've tried shaving with it twice. First time it tugged quite a lot on my whiskers, and I cut myself about 10 times. So yesterday I gave 50-100 laps on my yellow coticule w/ water, and stropped it 25-50 times. After that I let it rest until todays morning when I shaved with it (no stropping before that), 2 nicks, mainly (I think) by me getting carried away and putting the edge against my skin first instead of putting the spine against my face first and then tilting it until I get the correct angle. It also seem to tug a bit less today.

Anyway, would the laps I did on the coticule be enough. It feels damn sharp on the TPT, but I'm a noob so I don't know... :) I have a shaveready razor incomming from gugi, so hopefully that will sort me out nice and proper, until that I'm gonna get some Gillette Swedes DE blades and do the TPT on them to compare...

Here are some other things I've written about my initial experience in other threads;

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shave...tml#post313460

http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...tml#post313430

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Originally Posted by Stuggi

I have a shaveready razor incomming from gugi

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I guess this may be a good time to immortalize that razor, so here you go for all peeps out there

Nice, did you get it in the post already btw? :)

Just two points to make...

1. Strop just before each shave for 30-50 roundtrip laps. Not the nite before.

2. I doubt that your razor is sharp enough from that little bit on the coticule. Wait and compare it to the one that is in the mail.



Just my $.02,:)

Right now it feels as if it gets sharper every time I strop it, but I still need to improve my technique so I can do it without nicking the stop (cheapest leather only Dovo strop).

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Originally Posted by Stuggi

Right now it feels as if it gets sharper every time I strop it

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My suggestion is that you keep stropping it until you can no longer notice any improvement to the razor. You may be pleased with the resulting shaves!

Yeah, that's what I've been doing, but when you average 10-15 laps a minute it gets boring fast... :) I've noticed some improvement in my shaving as well (I went from 10 nicks to 2 nick to zero nicks with a lot of razor burn in three shaves), so I'll keep at it. My styptic pencil and alum block should arrive in a couple of days, and then I'll take up straight shaving again, tomorrow my face is gonna get a little rest (I've shaved with the straight solely for three shaves in a row), since my mach3 at the moment doesn't give me such a lot razor burn...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stuggi

...when you average 10-15 laps a minute...

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Keep at it, the speed will come
You might check out this stropping speed experiment that was conducted as well if you are curious to see what others have found.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stuggi

Yeah, that's what I've been doing, but when you average 10-15 laps a minute it gets boring fast... :) I've noticed some improvement in my shaving as well (I went from 10 nicks to 2 nick to zero nicks with a lot of razor burn in three shaves), so I'll keep at it. My styptic pencil and alum block should arrive in a couple of days, and then I'll take up straight shaving again, tomorrow my face is gonna get a little rest (I've shaved with the straight solely for three shaves in a row), since my mach3 at the moment doesn't give me such a lot razor burn...

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a lot of guys (me included) keep a DE around for times when you don't have time or would otherwise resort back to the Crap3. you can get them on ebay at some great prices. a gillette superspeed is an easy one to learn on though i do like my gillette slim adjustable and fatboy. just a thought though :cool:

Yeah, I've been eyeballing a Merkur HD or 34C (same thing? :) ) for a while now for travel and speedshaves.

BTW, I figured out the stropping, now I can do maybe one lap per one or two seconds, and my blade feels sharper on the TPT than a Gillette Platinum DE blade, so maybe it's sharp enough and I'm just a noob. Hopefully the Shumate, Pre-shave oil, styptic pencil and alum block will sort me out nice and proper.