Thread: Best choice for a rough beard?

i think jim has the half-hollowed dovo
Vintage*Blades*LLC*::*Dovo...

as far as your picture, that's big dense beard, but not sure if that is the same as rough/hard/coarse. but i'd think that more beard to cut means more work for the razor.

as for the rest of it, yes you need to buy a strop right away, hone not.

and good soap with brush helps a lot. it's not really expensive - the tweezerman brush seems to be well liked and it's 10-15 bucks and for a soap i quite like colleen's at thegentlemensquarter

hair conditioner works well before shaving, esp. if you shave after the shower as i do (don't use hair conditioner though, as i'm lazy but i've tried it).

art of shaving is generally more expensive than classicshaving. the first only sells one model razors made for them by thiers-issard. i think these are the cheapest model, but i may be wrong. again the prices have been going up and i don't follow them much. the one that alan linked is the only stiff grind thiers-issard razor, you can't buy it AoS even if you wanted.

Add honing service to the prices you see at AoS. Most of us here shave with razors that are much sharper than what comes out of the factory.

Originally Posted by gugi

art of shaving is generally more expensive than classicshaving. the first only sells one model razors made for them by thiers-issard. i think these are the cheapest model, but i may be wrong.

You are probably right! I just spent some time exploring Classic Shaves and Art of Shaving a little more deeply, I may have jumped the gun with my former judgement.

The other thing is, I was kind of hoping for wood or bone scales, as these are talked about on one of the websites that is linked in the wiki. I thought if I was going to spend a couple of hundred, that would happen. Maybe not this time around though.

I liked the razor you linked for vintage blades. I think that dovo might be the best choice right now. I think when I start to get the feeling for this, then I might go the Thiers Issard route, and then perhaps pick up something with wooden or bone off of Classic Shaving.

and good soap with brush helps a lot. it's not really expensive - the tweezerman brush seems to be well liked and it's 10-15 bucks and for a soap i quite like colleen's at thegentlemensquarter

Cool, I'll check this out. I'll google them and all.

the one that alan linked is the only stiff grind thiers-issard razor, you can't buy it AoS even if you wanted.

That is so strange that it has synthetic scales. I think it would be nicer in Redwood or something.

Add honing service to the prices you see at AoS. Most of us here shave with razors that are much sharper than what comes out of the factory.

That is the one thing I notice about Vintage Blades LLC, Classic Shave, and Straight Razor Designs. These three websites, do seem like they are doing a special amount of customer service.

I guess I was comparing only razor prices, but when I started looking at strops and other things, it was apparent AOS was a bit pricier.

Thing is, I guess Classic Shave, is carrying the more high end Thiers Issards as well. Perhaps they are something to look forward to, down the road, when I'm a bit more settled with this.

Originally Posted by CaptainBlade

Just to elaborate really quickly on vintage, it's a little difficult for me to price those out. I see vintage razors in flee markets, for $2 and $4 a throw. Obviously, with the vintage in SRP classifieds, you are paying for a pro restore, and collector value, but until I have a handle on this, I'm really leaning new.

Prices in the classifieds of SRP and Badger and Blade are usually reasonable. Don't worry, if in doubt: ask a mentor, that's what they are for (if I understand the mentor thing right). What you buy on junk yards etc is a mixed bag: very few treasures, lots of junk, most needing major restoration. Most of the time if listed shave-ready they are, although I once did buy a razor that was less shave-ready than advertised. You can always send your razor to a honemeister or better even: buy one from a honemeister. If your razor is shave-ready you only need a strop and provided you strop correctly you will be OK for quite a while before you need re-honing. In the help files and Lynn's DVD it tells you how to strop. Tony Miller has practice strops to get you started. He is very helpful and will answer all your questions. His strops need no breaking in etc. and come with instructions re. maintenance.

CaptainBlade, I too have a very tough beard; I started out with the Dovo Best, 5/8, half-hollow. I have found it to be an excellent razor, and is among Dovos' least expensive razors to boot. It is easy to maintain, responds well to touch-ups on a pasted strop - I would recommend it whole-heartedly to you. It has plastic scales (they aren't too bad), but you could re-scale it with some of the Dovo Pakkawood scales. best regards Russ

Hello J and welcome to SRP. It looks like you are investigating this new world of Straight Razor Shaving just fine. Knowledge is your friend. I started with new blades [Dovo & TI] and now they are down in the bottom of my collection. When I found that vintage could shave just as good and better, that is where my interest went. You can get a vintage that is restored and sharpened by one our honemeisters for half the price and for me it is more satisfying to shave with a 100 year old blade than a new one.

You cannot go wrong with a Dovo or TI if the blade doesn't come warped and is professionally honed. The heavy beard is of little consequence to a sharp razor but I would try to get a 6/8 blade to start with.

bj

Welcome to SRP Captainblade! You are deffinitely doing your research! I don't know much about TI's, but IMHO you can't go wrong with the Dovo "Bismarck". SRD does have a couple and there pretty sharp looking also. I have a Dovo Ebenholz and a Bismarck. Lynn honed them for me and they are sweet shavers. You might want to try a Wade & Butcher Wedge. I know it's not a new blade, but you can not beat a properly honed W&B, no matter how much the other one was. Nothing beats a good piece of Sheffield Steel! They just don't make blades like that any more! Once again welcome to a new "way of life" for you! It gets in the blood man, believe me! God Bless!

+1 on the vintage Sheffields but the key really is 'shave ready'. Perhaps you'll get on better with a heavier grind but truly sharp is the key.

I can imagine at this point you'll feel pretty confused and uncertain. You might have a really tough beard and you might later decide you need a better blade.

Your getting lots of great examples of blades designed for guys with tough beards.

To me I think you should be much more concerned with what to do with all this equipment when it arrives.

I would love to see you simply buy the razor (from all these great examples) that you think you'll like, this is a fun hobby, not really so much of a complex physics problem.

I think you should buy the one you think is the coolest and start having fun!

All of the above is very good advice, but I feel I want to toss my 2 cents worth in here as well.

Well within your budget is the Dovo Renaissance, here at Vintage Blades. The price includes honing by Lynn.

This blade is a Full Hollow, but because it's Inox (stainless steel) it is stiff like a 1/4 hollow or wedge. I have a tough beard, and find this blade stays sharp longer than my carbon steel blades. {Full disclosure: I have one and I love it! See the title I use...}

The scales, though not wood, are quite nice. And remember, you shave with the blade, not the scales.....

I will also repeat that the best razor on earth can't do a good job on a tough or even medium beard unless you have good beard prep. You might compare whatever prep you're doing with the 800-pound gorilla method here, starting with post #10, and several variations.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I think you should buy the one you think is the coolest and start having fun!

I'd like to second that. I have learnt to subscribe to the one-edge-fits-all theory of straight shaving. I've always loved the flex and sound of extreme hollow grounds, but my beard did not like them. I then had them honed by a professional, and behold! they work just as well as the wedges I had resorted to in the meantime. Get a razor you like visually, and make sure it's been professionally honed. You'll like it.

Good luck, and do keep us posted on your progress.

Regards,
Robin