Newbie with another so called shave ready dovo

Hey everyone, glad to be part of another forum... never thought I'd join one about shaving though :)

Ok so several days ago my wife gave me a Dovo Bismark with the 24k gold plating (very nice) and was told it was shave ready like a lot of others on here, however, it provided one of the roughest shaves pulling etc, almost like a well worn hand razor and I couldn't bring myself to tell her because she thought she'd done so well for a birthday present. Now my issue is I live in Australia where everything is miles away so it's not as simple as driving down the road to see a honemeister... and I'm pretty sure the closest person who provides such services is somewhere in the region of 2000kms away. Not a real big demand for old school SR stuff where I am. Postage to said person after I find one would probably take 2 weeks return due to my location.

So my question is this: what should I do to make sure I'm getting the most from the razor and it's not my technique. I've tried some sharpness tests and I know the HHT is hit and miss but I had to hold my hair at both end before it would cut so can safely say it's not truly shave ready. I've ordered a strop but my guess would be that I should get it honed? Because I want to do this properly and make it a life long investment I was looking at the shapton glass hones. What grit should I get if it's a shave ready razor? I was thinking maybe 16000 to refine the edge as it already has what I think to be a nice bevel.

I know there's probably heaps of threads covering these topics but I didn't want to hijack anyone elses thread.

Actually you have quite a large contingent of SR guys in AU

I am sure some will be along shortly

If not fire a PM to Onimaru54, Jimbo, or Baldy they all hone, many others do too...

Really? only ones i've found thus far have been based in sydney and melbourne. still need to learn the tricks of the trade myself at some point though... thanks for the lightning response though.

Hello Azazel and welcome to SRP.

Why don't you send me a PM? There are ways and means to overcome the distance barrier here in Aus. For example, I could send you a loaner razor-once it arrives, you could post yours. That way you could check if it is the razor or your technique, and only send your new razor in if it is the latter.

James.

Thanks will do

Hello and welcome! Poke around in your account settings and find the one where you indicate your location. That'll help other Aussies find you.

Good luck and best wishes.

ahhh yep, i think i was generic and just put Aus. thanks

I had the same kind of experience with my first razor, supposedly a shave ready Dovo. It had a factory edge which was barely passable. Then I sent it to a honemeister (Thanks, Lynn) and found out what truly shave ready was.

I would suggest that a trip to a honemeister would be in order because you're going to want a properly honed edge to compare to for future reference. In the meantime, as a new shaver, pick up a pasted strop or get some CroX and learn to maintain your edge. This should last several months before it needs a touch up. Glen (gssixgun) did an experiment with pasted strops and how long he could hold an edge using just them. I think he quit after six months because he got bored.

Once the blade comes back, invest in a loup or small handheld microscope and really look at your edge. See what it's supposed to look like when it's honed. That will give you a visual reference for the future. Then the next order of busness would be a Norton 4k-8k plain jane hone. Anything higher than that is polishing and a 12k is just fine for that.

Awesome, I'll be sure to give it a go. Guess i need to invest the time and sit down and learn some things from someone who knows this stuff next time I go somewhere that practices it. It's one thing to read all this great information that's supplied and put it in to practice but it's also hard to unlearn poor technique over perfect.