First go with my new dovo

I ordered a nice new dovo square point razor in mid December and it finally arrived today. In the meantime I've been using a bluebeards revenge shavette because I got bored of waiting. Just had my first shave with it and it was an interesting experience so I thought I'd share. I also have a question or two and of course any other feedback or advice is very welcome.

First I prepared with a hot shower, then a nice hot towel on the face for a minute or so (first time I've done that) and then lathered up with edwin jagger shave soap. Then I dried my hands so as not to get any water where it shouldn't get, took my razor from its case and began to shave. It was very nice to hold, much better balanced than a cheap shavette. So nice to have the extra couple of inches of blade as well. It removed hair but not all that much and tugged at the hairs rather than slicing them. This is straight from the box exactly as it arrived, so not stropped (I was advised not to the first time out) but professionally honed before it was sent. I completed one pass with the grain with no nicks or cuts, and with a little less stubble at the end. I started with 5 days worth and after one pass it looked like 3 or 4 days worth.

I lathered up again and finished the job with the shavette and got a nice close shave. Finished by rinsing off soap residue with warm water, then cold water, alum block, dry and finally aftershave balm. Dried my nice new razor (although I was careful not to get it wet in the first place) stropped it 30 times on the linen (which has some white stuff on) and 50 on the leather, then put a drop of clipper oil on the blade and put it away. It's in its little blue tin which I hear isn't the best place to store it, but the vacuum cleaner I just bought came with a little bag of silica gel and I tucked that in the tin with the razor. Not sure if that was a good idea but I read a thread about rust yesterday and got scared.

So my biggest question of course is "Why did it not seem so sharp and what should I do next?" The usual answers seem to be proper honing and technique. I think I was getting the angle about right since doing the same thing with the shavette gave a good result. Do I need a slightly different technique with the straight? Has the sharpness of the disposable blade in the shavette led me to expect too much from the straight? As for the blade itself, I was wondering if being in transit for three weeks might have led to slight corrosion of the edge making it less sharp, but there's no corrosion visible. The blade was honed but possibly not stropped when it was sent out. Having stropped it, should I expect a better performance next time?

Last question: I got better lather in Sheffield than I do here in Norway with the same soap and technique. Is this just the different mineral content of the water and if so what can I do different?

Thanks for reading all that and for any feedback.
David

Hi David,

first of all yes, water makes a lot of difference! Where I live the water is quite hard and it takes a lot more work to get the same lather I can get when I'm visiting my parents, where the water is far better. You'll need to try until you find the right amount of water to get a proper lather.

Back to the razor, if it was professionally honed it's probably a matter of technique. Razor's pressure, lather quality, blade's angle, skin's stretching are all factors that impact the quality of the shave and the feedbacks you can get from your blade. It's hard to judge without actually seeing what you are doing ;)

As you are already using a shavette you probably already have a suitable technique, I don't know who honed your razor, but it might need some additional adjustment (stropping or even some passes on a polishing stone).

Keep going and you'll get there! :tu

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking about it this afternoon and wondered if a few passes on a pasted strop might be worth a go, but I have no experience so not sure. I found a place I can get an ok price for a thiers-issard 4 sided paddle strop. Something like one side for green paste, one for red, one for chromium oxide and one plain leather seems like a nice idea and would be a bit cheaper than any stones I've found. Maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself after just one shave with a straight. I'm going to give the thing a good stopping and try it again this evening.

Please tell us how the stropping and shaving went !! :)

I gave it 30 passes on the linen and 60 on the leather. It was pretty much the same as before, possibly a little better but not really. Again taking some off, but not much. There was stubble in the lather on the blade but I couldn't tell a difference by looking at my face afterwards. A second WTG pass with the shavette gave a good result again, other than a small nick under the chin. When using the straight it seems like more pressure takes more off. That means the blades a bit dull right?

On the plus side I'm getting used to the different water and getting some nice lather now.

I found an even cheaper 4 sided paddle strop and the tutorials on how to make a balsa wood strop, so the idea of trying to polish it up with some chromium oxide is looking a little more appealing. I'm still new to this, so maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself there. I'm still not certain if its down to needing a slightly different technique than I've learned with the shavette, but I'm getting more sure that the blade's not quite right. Do you think I should try to polish it up myself? My other thought was to send it out for someone to check if it's ok and hone it properly if necessary. What do you think?

Although a shavette is a good starting point, when you switch to the real straight razor, there is a new learning curve. You can get away with a more open angle when using the shavette than you can with the straight razor. You really need to keep the straight razor almost vertical when using it and make sure your wrist doesn't bend back once you get the razor to your face.

It is work going back to one side burn down to the jawline for a few days to get the cutting angle down and then as it becomes easier, taking on more of the face. See if you can get some improvement here before trying pastes or send it out for a honing.

Have fun.

Thanks a lot, Lynn. I've read so much information about straight razors and shaving recently, but have no experience so don't know what information to apply to my situation. I don't have time to do anything drastic with the straight for the next week or two, but there's always time to shave. I'll keep at it and try different angles and things. Hope I don't have to un-learn too much from using the shavette.

I'm a week in with straight razor shaving every day. The first pass definitely does not take off as much as cartridges I was using before but when I re lather and do 2nd pass it gets close to presentable, so just keep at it. Granted I'm a newbie but I'd suggest not following up with shavette on areas of your face you're comfortable shaving with your straight do a second or even third WTG pass and you'll get the hang off it soon enough

Thanks Mike. I'm going to shave when I finish this cup of coffee so I'll give that a go.

This time I tried 3 WTG passes with the straight being very careful of angle, skin stretching etc. Slightly better result this time. I'm slightly ashamed to say I finished the job off with my old mach 3, but I don't want to reinforce any bad habits I might have picked up with the shavette.

I just watched a youtube video about sharpness tests (mostly about how light reflects off a dull blade) and had a look at my razor. I couldn't see any of the signs of dullness that the guy talked about so I tested it on the back of my arm. It's now taking hair off my arm easier than it did right out of the box before I first stropped it. They pop off now where at first they were scraped off. I don't think I'm doing anything different. It looks like my amature stropping is improving things which seems weird. I was under the impression that stropping would maintain a sharp blade rather than sharpen a dull one. Could it have been honed but not stropped before it was sent to me?

I'm not sure what to think about it, but things are getting better so I'm happy enough. I'll see how things are after a few more shaves.