I wish I could shave with my Dovo

[Alewine]

Hi,
I purchased my Dovo Best Quality with the black handle from SRD along with a strop, DVD, oil and leather pouch. The first time a tried to shave the cheap plastic scale broke at the pivot pin. I contacted Lynn, and he repaired it for me (Thanks Lynn). I was going to try to shave with it again today, I stroped it and the scale broke again at the pivot pin, and I was trying my best to handle this thing like a fragile egg.
Even after all the money I spent, I'm almost ready to give up on the idea of Straight Razor Shaving before I even get to do my first full straight razor shave.

Alewine

[ace]

Don't give up quite yet! I don't think anyone starts this venture easily. The shaves at first aren't really that good, and it takes time to develop your technique and understanding of what to do and how to do it. I can tell you that sticking with it does have its benefits. You'll eventually get quite good at it and really enjoy shaving as a hobby instead of just a daily chore.

[Alewine]

Thanks Ace,

I wouldn't feel so bad if I was able to shave with the razor and did not get a good shave, I expect that. I know there is a learning curve that all must face who want to shave with a straight razor. But I can't even use the razor I bought to get the first shave. I wonder if there are scales I can buy that are much stronger than the plastic ones that came with the razor (Dovo Best Quality Half Hollow). In regards to shaving being a daily chore, I enjoy shaving now with my safety razor, I just want to enhance my pleasure by using a straight razor.

[JimmyHAD]

Very unusual. Having stropped hundreds of razors, including my share of dovos, I've never broken a scale at the pivot pin while stropping. I'm wondering if you are holding the razor by the tang between thumb and forefinger ? The scales extended in a straight line behind the monkey tail ? If someone were to hold the razor by the scales I could see this possibly happening, given enough pressure.

[Crzylizard]

I too have a Dovo BQ and haven't had that issue. I agree with Jimmy above that something may be amiss with how you're stropping, or the grip that you have, creating some kind of ackward torque on the scales at the pivot. Could you snap a picture of how you're holding it?

[650Stew]

This might actually be a defect with some of the Dovo's. I had a new black Dovo 5/8 that was very stiff to open, the second time I used it the scale broke at the pivot pin as well, and a piece of the scale came off. When I had a good look at it, the scale on the other side had cracked as well. As it didn't open and close smoothly I can only guess that the top pin was too tight and it fractured the scales? The fellow I bought it from refunded my money and told me that he had noticed a batch of new Dovo's that he had honed seemed very stiff to open from the factory, he said he was going to send it back to Dovo. I took some pictures of where mine broke and I'm trying to post them but Photobucket is not cooperating. Lol, okay, I got Photobucket to work. Here are the pics.

[650Stew]

Please don't give up on the straights because of this, I have two other vintage razors that work perfectly and straight shaving (once learned) is a pleasure. I'm a newbie as well but I'm learning!

[mjsorkin]

It's pretty uncommon for this to happen. Don't give up over it. It's a small thing. You'll get it fixed.

Michael

[slicey]

sounds like you've had a bit of a run of poor luck there, I can understand how with that much hassle at the very outset you would be ready to say "sod this for a game of soldiers", by the sounds of it the exact problem you've encountered is pretty rare but overall teething problems with starting out with straight razors is reasonably common.
I know I've had a couple, it can seem a bit like one thing after another, you wouldn't think it would be that hard would you? scraping whiskers off your face with a sharp blade, easy huh? apparently not so much.
I got stung buying a sub-standard razor online, then I just bit the bullet and went out and bought a brand new Dovo stainless 5/8 innox, lovely razor and the service was first rate, but of course it didn't come shave ready so I had to then go and buy a hone and get busy honing it myself (lucky me I just happen to live in a state where the government made it illegal to offer a straight razor honing service professionally, some garbage about health).
So basically I've had to hone my own razor from scratch, strop it up to a point were it's shave ready.
It's not brilliant, but it's as good as I can get it.
It can seem a bit like the universe is throwing roadblocks up in front of you to make it harder (if not impossible) to continue on with a given venture, I just figure it's a good opportunity to test your resolve.
Anything worth doing there's lots of times you CAN give up, or even FEEL like giving up.
I hope you don't give up, sounds like you've already gone through the hard part, it'd be a shame to throw the towel in and deny yourself the pleasureable part after you've already been through the difficult stuff.

[Alewine]

Thank you gentlemen for your support. Maybe it was my stropping technique that damaged the scale. The first scales may have been to tight like 650Stew stated, but the razor was sent back to SRD to be repaired. So even though I have read a lot of info and seen a lot of pics on the Internet, I quess it just me and my x-large clumsy hands.
I feel foolish sending it back to SRD to get it repaired again, even if I did pay for it. Does anybody know where to purchase wooden scales that will fit my razor?