Thread: About a razor

Hello everyone, I'm not sure if this is the place to post this but here it goes...

I Have a Dovo EnVougue Stainless Steel blade that feels harsher than a Carbon Steel TI that I have. It is sharp, that's for sure, and although both pass any HHT or Arm Hair Test that I try, the dovo feels stiffer and it's giving me a burning feeling in my face half way thru a second pass.

So I'm not entirely sure if it was honed properly or not. So my question for y'all is about a honemeister in Vancouver. Does anyone know someone around here?

I have zero experience honing and only have one strop and no pastes... so I'm not sure how to go about it.

The only one I've heard of is the one that honed this particular blade and I'm not entirely sure if I want to go back with him or find some else. My only other option would be to ship it to Vegas so Max could take a look at it as he's the one who honed my TI.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

E.

Going back to the same honer is like asking the roofer to fix the leak you found after he just reroofed your house. His response: What leak?

Besides Max in Las Vegas the two supreme honers are gssixgun in Idaho and Lynn at SRD. (Personal experience with gssixgun on a couple of C-MONS, result - fantastic)

As to burning sensation I usually find that when I have it it's because I've used too much pressure on the blade.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

As to burning sensation I usually find that when I have it it's because I've used too much pressure on the blade.

I've tried everything... I've used the same soap, same brush and everything just changing the angle and pressure and it doesn't feel the same as the TI. Specially when using a Bay Rum AS splash my face burns like hell! I'm not sure if this is because of a reaction to Bay Rum or not, because I don't have the same reaction if I apply without shaving.

I know the Dovo is heavier than the TI so I try to go as slow as I can while really stretching the skin and all. But one thing that I've noticed is that the Bevel looks longer on one side of the blade than it looks on the other. (I'll try to post pictures later tonight) but that's something that I could notice with the naked eye.

When using a magnifying glass I could not see any bumps, bends or any other strange stuff on the edge of the blade.

I am far from even being a novice on honing matters but logic decrees that the uneven angles on the bevel may be the culprit in the matter. As an experiment, try a different angle for the 'odd' side of the blade and see if that does anything. All else fails start from scratch and set a new, even, bevel or send to to one of the wonderworkers of the forum that eat that stuff for breakfast.

So... I took some pictures with a thread counter on both sides of the edge and this is what I found.

There are three different pictures of each side, B & C are the same picture just zoomed in; the red marker is the exact same size in both images so you can see the difference in the bevel on both sides.

Any ideas how to fix this?

Thank you again

E.

That shows the edge is off centerline of the blade to the short side (this assumes same bevel angle on both sides). It is corrected by honing more on the short side, but should not be the cause of your discomfort.

I'd try stropping the razor on newspaper wrapped around/on your normal strop, couple of thicknesses. Go easy and proper and many laps. Finish with leather.

Also, it's quite normal for razors to feel different even honed exactly the same. It's a bit of an art to get consistent results given all the variability of the metal.

Take a look at the front of the blade and see if both shoulders of the spine end at the same level. If one carries on further down that could account for the differences in bevel widths. I don't think having two different bevel widths would affect sharpness and is just a cosmetic thing.

Bob

So if these differences are not why the blade feels "harsher" while shaving, what could it be?

There could be a few reasons that it feels harsher so really hard to say. It could be the type of hone the Dovo was finished on, maybe you have a reaction to stainless steel or too much pressure when shaving for just a few. All I know is that I have a few stainless steel razors and they shave like my carbon steel ones. Too bad you have nobody near you that could have a squint at the blade or even try stropping it on some Crox for you to see if that would make a difference. Sorry I can't be of more help to you.

Bob

It could just be that your face reacts differently to the different steel. I have tried my fair share of more modern blades, but I keep going back to my mid-19th century Sheffields. They just seem to work better *for me*. There's nothing at all wrong with my other razors, it's just that for me, I prefer that particular kind of steel. And it's not carbon vs stainless for me: my next favourite one is a weird stainless Soviet blade.

But that possibility notwithstanding, I'd be willing to bet that there's some minor difference in how they are honed. Sharpness does not = smoothness, so getting the things sharp is only half the battle. I'd echo the advice of sending it to a pro (and by that I mean one of the guys who advertise in the member services section of the classified here or - for a Canadian option - someone like Phil at classicedge.ca about whom I've only heard good things) to be honed. That way you know it's good to go.