Thread: Impressions after 5 shaves.

I bought a Dovo Tortoise new and the note said it was shave ready and professionally honed, but it felt like it was plucking my hairs vs. cutting them while shaving for the first time with it. I was a newbie to straight shaving and 1/2 of my problem was technique, but I had a clue on sharpness or smoothness since I had another straight with disposable blades and knew how they felt shaving. So I knew what a decent shave should feel like and the Dovo just wasn't ready to meet my demands.

After using those sharp disposable straight blades, The Dovo Carbon Steel blade was a rude awakening for me. I thought if I stropped it enough, it would get sharp, but it didn't work well enough for me.

So I ordered a 4 sided pasted strop and gave it 10 laps on the .50 micron paste side along with the usual stropping and that did the trick. Since then, the Dovo Tortoise is a great shaver for me. About every two to three shaves, it gets 10 laps with the pasted strop. I have been very pleased with the 4 sided strop as this blade is soft, but easily takes a good edge.

Pabster