Thread: Dovo’s honing method

That's bad, really really bad.
A frown is the absolute worst, if you want to honor your city of Solingen and the craftsmanship and skill of old, you have to do better.
Quite frankly this is a disgrace. Solingen stamp unworthy.

A convex hone is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of for straight razors, there's even people making money off of that philosophy. Erm. Yeah.

Originally Posted by TristanLudlow

That's bad, really really bad.
A frown is the absolute worst, if you want to honor your city of Solingen and the craftsmanship and skill of old, you have to do better.
Quite frankly this is a disgrace. Solingen stamp unworthy.

A convex hone is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of for straight razors, there's even people making money off of that philosophy. Erm. Yeah.

The convex hone thing goes back a long way so I don't see how that is the issue, plus sloppy honing will create a frowning blade even on a flat hone. Maybe the convex thing is one of those academic exercises but the logic behind it seems reasonable and wouldn't intuitively tend towards creating a frown more than any other hone.

More likely the center of the blade is being overground or excessive use of the wheel sharpener pre honing on the stones. If you watch the TSS Dovo honing video there seems to be a lot of use of that horizontal wheel on one blade. The width of the abrasive area is such that with even strokes across the edge you'd always end up grinding more of the blade center unless you spent more time at the toe and heel.

Originally Posted by thp001

plus sloppy honing will create a smiling blade even on a flat hone.

Correct honing will create a wanted smile on a blade, yupz.

To each their own, that's fine. Convex hones may be fine, but why bother with something that ain't broken? I see it more as a shortcut by the manufacturer.

It has the potential to mess up more things than it would fix, making it slightly more difficult for users to touch up their own razors on their own finishing stone afterwards.

Depending on how you hone, the degree of your razor, the pressure you use along the razors and when and how your razor passes over the convex part it could most certainly throw things out of whack. Your convex part will never be perfect or remain perfect.

I still think it's a silly idea.
I'd rather use a flat or slightly concave hone.

Either way, they're doing it very wrong at Dovo and delivering highly subpar quality finished razors.

Originally Posted by TristanLudlow

Correct honing will create a wanted smile on a blade, yupz.

Was a typo actually meant frowning blade.

Originally Posted by TristanLudlow

Depending on how you hone, the degree of your razor, the pressure you use along the razors and when and how your razor passes over the convex part it could most certainly throw things out of whack. Your convex part will never be perfect or remain perfect.

This is surely true of most hones regardless of convexity.

Originally Posted by TristanLudlow

I'd rather use a flat or slightly concave hone.

I agree.

Originally Posted by TristanLudlow

Either way, they're doing it very wrong at Dovo and delivering highly subpar quality finished razors.

They could improve but maybe they're doing the best they can with the staff they currently have. Maybe a slight frown of a couple thou isn't considered out of spec. Could be multiple variables.

Originally Posted by thp001

They could improve but maybe they're doing the best they can with the staff they currently have. Maybe a slight frown of a couple thou isn't considered out of spec. Could be multiple variables.

True; by their standards it doesn't seem out of spec, as they do put them out for sale that way.

For a company that makes razors this is unfathomable, I wouldn't wish anyone a frowned razor. Especially newbies that want to buy a quality Solingen product, I feel bad for them.


Otoh, there's one thing that has been truly outstanding throughout all the years and that is their strops, imho.

The true stupidity of the Convex hone is if that dweeb Jarrod and his "Math" actually works to create a Concave bevel (Doubtful)


The very idea that a Concave bevel would be better is laughable at best, considering every razor brand and hone maker has been trying to achieve a Convex bevel for 300 years for a reason..

PS: Somebody please tell that guy to stop using my name to garner hits on his whine soaked Vids I see he added Marty and Steve too now LOL

Yes we noticed that he pulled all that down, and has since switched to "It is easier on wonky blades" sales pitch.. That kinda makes sense since Dovo keeps sending wonky edges out..

And YES when he tags me I reserve the right to bust on his junk science


again Enough Already !!! just learn to hone


Oh pps: It isn't the grinding, it is the honing, once it is corrected they hone just fine plus if the warp was that bad why are you sending them out

I imagine the bevel is concave but to such a small degree it wouldn't really make a difference. Something probably measured in microns. Concave bevels in themselves may have some theoretical advantages in certain cutting tasks. Whether shaving hair is one of them I don't think anyone could say for sure.

As far as my own personal preference goes, I moved more towards the French/Continental tradition of relatively long times between honing and judicious use of the pasted strop because to me the convexing of the edge gives the best shave.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

considering every razor brand and hone maker has been trying to achieve a Convex bevel for 300 years for a reason..

hello

you may wish to read sentence four of paragraph two of page 12 of this (sorry this link but I cannot find otherwise in English, this is the only time I am aware it was written published in English since last 100 years);

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/re...a-edition-2020

Also you might wish to contact Wacker or others still producing today, and ask them which is correct, your isosceles triangle cutting edge or is the specification to be another form.

While I cannot speak for other location razor production, since ~1885 from Solingen production for hollow ground razors, the goal is always to produce a concave cutting edge, and when grinders say the "cutting edge" we mean the entire bevel form, not the line you show from aside as in America. This was done historically with a small fine wheel powered by foot action, but those are no longer produced and now a hone shaped as wheel portion is used instead. Please come to the Deutsches Klingenmuseum, you will see wonderful pictures from this time period now gone, and they include workstation images ~1900-1910 where you can see wedge grind razors for barbers being honed on flat whetstone while wheel stations for hollow ground finishing (many more) are being used. I do not imagine why you would believe a grinder with access to each would actively choose the flat object instead?

Our industry is working since 2019 on a machinery developed which will be used by all the Solingen productions soon and is a device which can measure with extreme accuracy the cutting edge thickness and edge radius, but without damaging the fragile edge, and with the high resolution required. We are calling this machine for now "the shave-ready machine", in honor of the strong American market. Each new razor will come with an individual certification using objective metrics from the individual test, much like if you purchase a costly moving coil phono cartridge. The test will indicate thickness and radius at several positions upon the cutting edge. I assure you that no "not shave ready" cutting edge can exceed these stringent metrics. Multiple producers in Solingen are adopting this standardization and it will occur soon, perhaps within this year. It will certainly be interesting at that point to read the American forum responses from the experts as yourself.

greetings from Germany, as likely the only participant active in Solingen cutlery posting to your fine forum, we need all of you for German cutlery to continue!

Presuming thp001 meant frown, yes it is a sad state of affairs for anyone wanting to learn to shave with a straight.
Have purchased quite a few nos vintage razors that needed nothing more than a good lashing with a strop to give an acceptable shave.
Have never tried a dovo and probably won't ever bother for reasons stated here.