Thread: What Hones required to shave-ready a store bought Dovo?

Hi There,

I'm about to buy my first straight razor. I've been shopping around and know of a couple of reputable places I can buy pre-honed razors from the US.

However - I'm located in Australia, and the shipping from the US not only takes time, but the more I think about it - the more it worries me. Call me old fashioned - but I get nervous waiting for products to come in from overseas. I've bought the odd small item off eBay - nothing pricey though.

Back on track though - I've located a source of Dovo razors in Australia, at a good price. However, they're 'retail', and will come as-is, from the Dovo workshop.

If I were to consider buying in Australia, and honing myself - what would I need?

I would imagine they'd come pretty close to being shave-ready, and just need to be finished? I.e. I shouldn't need a great deal of stones to get the razor to where it needs to be? Or could pastes on balsa wood adequately do the job?

The hardest task might be locating the stones within Australia. But I'd love 'brands' and grades to start with so that I can begin my search.

Cheers!

Aaron.

This is the only source of hones (with grades listed) in Australia:

Japanese Sharpening Water Stones : Kizlyar Knives Australia, Hand Made Russian Knives

There are plently of sellers of stones, but they list them as fine grade or course grade.

Unless I can get away with pastes considering the razor would be brand new?

Thanks in Advance!

Aaron.

.... and here: HNT Gordon - WATERSTONES

Talking to myself here (I guess you blokes must be all asleep, seeing as you're in the wrong part of the world...)

Just thought I'd update:

I've located and ordered a Norton 4000/8000 for $134AUD. It appears it's going to be something I'll require whether or not I buy a pre-honed blade.

Is this all I'll need to get a factory Dovo razor ready for use?

Cheers,

Aaron.

Originally Posted by austy

Talking to myself here (I guess you blokes must be all asleep, seeing as you're in the wrong part of the world...)

Just thought I'd update:

I've located and ordered a Norton 4000/8000 for $134AUD. It appears it's going to be something I'll require whether or not I buy a pre-honed blade.

Is this all I'll need to get a factory Dovo razor ready for use?

Cheers,

Aaron.

FWIW --

I use a Norton 8K, followed by a CrOxide (roughly 0.5 micron) pasted strop. That's sharp and smooth enough for me to shave with. I haven't yet been able to shave off the Norton 8K alone; my technique needs improvement.

Other people have "finishing stones" of 12K and higher, rather than (or in addition to) using a pasted strop.

Charles

PS -- you should be able to find CrOxide "honing compound" or "honing paste" in Australia. It's commercially useful, not just a toy for nutty craftsmen like woodworkers and razor honers.
CHarles

PS -- since Lynn gets to sharpen a lot of factory Dovo's, his opinion will be definitive.

I'm a Master Barber, when I sharpen my straight razors I will use a 5000grit ,8000 grit, and 12000 grit water stones. Look at --www.classicshaving.com------www.japanesewoodworker.com
I paid USD---62.00 for the 1000/8000 grit, 90.00 for the 5000, 45.00 for the 12000 grit.
Also buy a good leather and canvas strop. This is around 35.00 from a Barber supply.
Go slow--you can not put metal back on after you have taken it off.
Contact some Barber Beauty supplies in OZ.
Gary

Hi Aaron,
I am yet to buy my first stone too. I feel I'd rather a 'graded' stone than a natural. I'm thinking upwards of 8k just to keep the edge for now, then a Norton 4/8 later. I found a 10k Naniwa at Straight Razor Designs (SRD) for 64 bucks (I'm assuming USD). The page the posted first shows a Naniwa 8k at 97 AUD. With the current exchange rate, even considering postage, for ME, I'm going to get the Naniwa 10k from SRD as soon as I can. In my own experience, I have never had a problem with postage or buying from overseas, and SWMBO will attest I do it a LOT. Yes, I'd rather keep the dollars in the country, but until someone actually STOCKS what I want to buy for a reasonable price, the overseas sellers will get my money. I'm getting increasingly frustrated by the stupid blank looks I get when asking about shaving gear in South Australia. No-one even knows what I'm talking about. Even the shop which sells ONLY shaving gear didn't told me there was no such thing as Proraso aftershave balm, only sold ONE strop, didn't know what a scuttle was, doesn't sell hones, etc. I walked for two hours round town and found THREE shaving creams (other than Palmolive), one in David Jones that cost 80 bucks, the Proraso (I already had) and finally Body Shop Maca Root (which I got and which is great). The shop assistants constantly told me to go to a chemist or supermarket. When I said I wanted 'high end English type stuff like Taylor's of Old Bond street' they looked at me like I was asking for LSD...

Carl

It seems like the cut-throat method is something not covered by the market in Aus. I went to Chadstone on Saturday (one of the largest shopping centres in Melbourne) and The Shaver Shop only stocked two brushes. One was $10, and one was $50 with a crappy stand. Both, and I don't exaggerate here at all - literally had broken apart, and had their synthetic hairs pushed back in using Blue Tac.

I'm pretty sure the guy behind the counter was taking LSD...

Cheers!

Aaron.

I generally don't refer to them as 'cut throats', unless I need to to clarify what I'm talking about, I don't think it's the 'done thing' :-). The Shaver Shop here in SA isn't THAT bad, they actually had a few brushes; and that's where I got mine; a Windsor, it's quite nice. They've now got to understanding the market a little better and actually sell THREE strops!!! (I know!, THREE!!!). They DID believe me in the end about the Proraso after shave balm and actually got it in for me, so they ARE learning. I think I and the Shaver Shop shall go on a teacher/learner journey over the next few months. On the other hand, it's all about shelf space and 'dead stock', I do understand the retail industry; having worked in it in the 'dark ages' 30 years ago (think 'Are You Being Served' TV show...), which is basically why it's an issue at the moment in the media (re GST ect). What I want to hear is, "No, Sir, we don't have that at the moment but we'll get it and match the price including what you would have had to pay for postage". That is, if it's 100 bucks on line, and 20 bucks postage the shop will get it for me and sell it to me for 120. That way, those of us who are reluctant to part with money to possibly 'iffy' sellers from that country that Borat comes from are happy, as is the guy in the shop who gets to keep his job AND build a relationship with the customer. Sorry to get off topic :-)

My first razor was vintage and shave ready right out of the post pack. Buying from someone who sells such razors and hones them before postage is MAYBE better than a new one that's not actually shave ready. I really REALLY think my journey would have been MUCH harder if I had to try to work out what 'shave ready' was. Might actually send that guy an email, he did me a real favour :-)

Aaron the best places in aus for stones is some of the butcher supply sites but the sad fact is you can buy from the manufacturers overseas for a hell of a lot less than here,there are a lot of good stones to choose from but not every aussie place sells a good selection so you need to search a lot,some sort vof finisher would be my first choice you just might have to do more strokes but if you look around you can get a couple stones from overseas for the price of one from here