Thread: Stainless steel razors on Shapton Pros.

Originally Posted by outback

The time and energy, and money you've put into those worthless chunks of steel, would've been better used on restoration of a good, vintage blade that will hold an edge and shave like your wanting them too.

Just saying.

Totally agree. This was the very 2nd razor I got, just after the junk Dovo Astrale, when I knew almost nothing about SRs. I recall I was looking for a super hard steel one. This one is indeed on with super hard steel, and of course super hard to hone as a result of the super crap ground.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

RSO's from China have always been tossed at us here. Not even a worthwhile subject.
A fact which was established long ago.

A sticky on the subject here from 2010. I do think Bruno was being too kind! . A view of the likes and thanks might convince some.
Still, lots of stubborn folk waste time and forum space on a regular basis......

https://sharprazorpalace.com/razors/...ar-razors.html

Lol, did not notice it really...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Yeah your not going to find one in a store
No your Dovo and Boker are not nearly as good off a 30k as the fine grained steel found in Vintage NY razors

Look for brands like

Kinfolks
Cattaraugus
Thistle
Olean
Genco / Geneva

Look for the NY stamps, this isn't hard and they are often quite cheap on the used markets

Not sure where you got the idea of 5-7 strokes on a 30K besides on my vids, keep in mind that is after a proper set up on the full grit ladder

YUou mighty also try what we call a Micro-Bevel after the 15 or 16k

Thanks for sharing. I literally don't know many SR brands. Dovo was the first on search results and was a bummer. I'm happy with my Boker, I'm pretty sure there are better ones but you know, I don't have many to compare. Actually I'm playing a hit or miss game. The recent Le Jaguar was bummer too.

Regarding the idea of 5-7 strokes on a 30K, it was actually from my trial and error. I wasn't expecting it going to work for me at all, it was just to get the the bottom of the rabbit hole. Indeed I have a full set of Shapton Pro from 320 to 30K. Initially I thought Shapton Pro 12K would do but my face said otherwise. So pulled the trigger for the 30K. Tried a magical10 strokes at the first time, which turned out too many as edge was full of micro chips just after ~10 shaves. Reduced to 3, not quit there... It was a surprise that it worked, as lots of people saying it would not. I knew it before hand but still decided to kill my itch.

Haven't tried the micro-bevel, I guess will try it with one of my 3 new ones that's still on the way.

Originally Posted by mrjin

I'll try again with stropping on 0.1micron diamonds before next shave and see how it goes. If the shave was great too, then I'll try go to the S30K for 20 passes and shave. It must be either the stone or the razor.

Okay, it turned out to be the stone. It looks like the Shapton 30K could not handle super hard stainless steel. Did ~20 passes on 0.1 micron diamond, it shaved really well. No alum stings or so ever. I still prefer the shave off my Boker though. I will post some pictures later to end this almost two years saga...

Okay, end of the saga. I knew I put way too much effort on this junk, but I just could not stop from completing something I started. Even after removing so much of the spine, I feel the bevel angle is still a little bit too big...

Your Dovo probably has a couple issues that can be fixed, if u know what to look for.

My Best Quality had issues of honing into a frown. One of the stabilizers was never ground out on one side. Making the heal more like a wedge, than a hollow grind.

Once repaired, it hones and shaves great.
Never any issues with my Boker

It must be a case by case quality control issue. My Col. Ichabod Conk Best Quality (rebranded Dovo) had no grind issues at all and shaved fantastically off the first hone. It still had the factory bevel when I got it and it honed right up to truly shave ready without any issues.

Of course it was bought in the factory store in Solingen so maybe they put.their best foot forward there.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

It must be a case by case quality control issue. My Col. Ichabod Conk Best Quality (rebranded Dovo) had no grind issues at all and shaved fantastically off the first hone. It still had the factory bevel when I got it and it honed right up to truly shave ready without any issues.

Of course it was bought in the factory store in Solingen so maybe they put.their best foot forward there.

I have the same one as well still. The first razor I purchased new when I started so over 20 years ago now.
It honed super easy without any issues in geometry and remains a very good razor.
The steel is not really hard but it still holds an edge as well as any vintage razor.

Talking about cruddy stainless and going off-topic to Dovo, a question comes to mind.

Known fact that Dovo made razors for Hess Hair Milk.

Why is it that a Hess 44 is widely regarded as one of the first and best of Inox razors.

Dovo made some almost identical ones. Hard to see. I guess back in the day, deals were deals. Seems Hess specified and knew their stuff. Lots of razors come to mind
All Hess razors made in Germany by Dovo seem to be great.
44's are the longest lasting edges, IMO.

Originally Posted by outback

Your Dovo probably has a couple issues that can be fixed, if u know what to look for.

My Best Quality had issues of honing into a frown. One of the stabilizers was never ground out on one side. Making the heal more like a wedge, than a hollow grind.

Once repaired, it hones and shaves great.
Never any issues with my Boker

Oh well, I have 3 Dovos. The very first one Dovo Astrale, could not be fixed. It came with bad spine geometry issues, minor stabilizer issue and badly warped edge, but shave ready some how. Being shave ready covered the all those issue or I would have returned it. I did not realize that until I had to refresh it after months later. And before that I snatched up two Dovo Specials. The Astrale's spine & stabilizer issues were easily fixed but the warped edge was beyond that. I managed to get it shave ready again, but you know, it's just way too much effort needed. The two Specials, however, only have minor spine issues and one of them had a ~0.5mm deep ~2mm wide chip on the edge near the toe. Those were easily fixed and thus did not bother to return. So based on my experience, Dovo's quality issues are wide spread, the only different is how bad.

The Boker arrived with perfect grounds, but not shave ready though claimed to be. No biggie as I got it shave ready in almost no time.