Thread: Dud DOVO Bismarck super?

I received a very stubborn DOVO Bismarck super last Friday for honing. At first, I figured the fault was with me, or the bevel, but I tried all the tricks I know and it still doesn't get even close to shave-ready. I would estimate it at 4000 grit sharpness, tops. When I tried shaving, I had difficulty getting through stubble when using heavy scything/slicing passes, and it would just get stuck without.

I tried:
- Normal honing 1/4/8/16K Shaptons
- Microbevel
- 1 to 4(!) layers of tape
- Microbevel with 4 layers of tape starting at 8K, regular bevel without tape
- Red and black pastes
- One-stone-honing on 8K Shapton
- Harsh bevel reset: ground the edge down ~0,5mm on DMT325 and started bevel reset from there.
- Rolling x-strokes, very wide x-strokes

At some point I noticed a very small chip in the edge, which disappeared with just the use of the 8K and one-stone-honing, starting out with medium pressure.


My guess: it's a dud. Bad tempering in factory or overheated at some point. The owner says he hasn't overheated it, as far as he knows, and only tried shaving with it a few times and then gave up because it was dull. It had never been honed, just factory edge before I received it.

Has anyone had this sort of experience with a DOVO before? Is there something I missed?

This is her. I find few similar razors when looking for DOVO Bismarck Super. Also, the scales are very cheap, without an actual wedge. Opens and closes well, though.