Thread: Dovo’s honing method

If your one of the guys putting out these crap edges, shave with one instead of just talking. You come on here just to troll

Originally Posted by onimaru55

I read the whole page on your link rather than one sentence & it is a description of making a bellied hollow grind. All hollow ground razors are made this way to varying degrees.

Thank you, I will definitely let the Böker managing director know of their error soon, and the poor English as my own.

Mr Euclid440; it is rare that a master grinder does not use a straight razor, in fact I would say nearly none, this is like saying a Scotsman in whisky trade does not drink. All that I know use nothing else.

I have been fortunate in that the two new out of the box razors I purchased actually arrived shave ready. In both cases I purchased from a reputable vendor who was also an expert honer who took it as a personal responsibility to make sure that every blade he sold was shave ready to his high standards before it left his shop. Those razors are the standards against which I hold my own honing.

I have heard similar highly satisfied reports of razors purchased from several of the razor artisans whose work we often see and read about on SRP. Not so for many for the razors purchased from current larger-scale manufacturers.

If a manufacturer implies that the razor I bought is shave ready, they should indicate that on the packaging and suggest that it not be honed or stropped before first use. They should have that much confidence in the quality of the blade they have made. If that statement isn’t there, I assume I will have to hone the razor to make it shave ready.

Let’s be real about the nature of the commentary about edges coming from SRP members. We do have real experts here and they do have very high standards against which mass-produced razors might not fully measure up.

A note on how this conversation seems to be progressing as I get the feeling some folks are getting a bit exercised by some of the comments: please maintain a cordial and inviting level of discussion even when the topics and points of view might be somewhat controversial.

You've all lost me pages ago.

All I want is that razor manufacturers don't deliver finished razors with a frown.

Whatever they do, how they do it, or what's to blame is luckily none of my concern.

I frankly don't accept ANY reason or excuse for a frown in razors.

For me that's the worst mistake you can make in producing a razor and I find it unacceptable.
No one ever would find that acceptable.

That the honing is not up to par, is unfortunate, but I can understand that and find it less troublesome. (unless you make false claims that it is truly shave ready and well honed)

All the other discussion points are far above my head.

Originally Posted by razorfranken81

Mr Euclid440; it is rare that a master grinder does not use a straight razor, in fact I would say nearly none, this is like saying a Scotsman in whisky trade does not drink. All that I know use nothing else.

Much of Scotland's whisky is produced in the Highlands and Western Isles where historically the Free Kirk of Scotland (and a slightly bewildering array of other Presbyterian churches, both associated and opposed) have held sway for centuries. The views of these churches have evolved over time, but it is not at all unusual for adherents to be teetotal or in other words to abstain from consumption of alcohol. It has not been at all uncommon for teetotal Scots to be involved in the whisky trade and your analogy is based upon a false assumption.

Originally Posted by razorfranken81

Thank you, I will definitely let the Böker managing director know of their error soon, and the poor English as my own.

Now that the name Boker has come up, I do have a comment on their product of current manufacture. I do not purchase many brand new current production straight razors. I think this old post of mine will clarify my experience with current Boker straight production.

https://sharprazorpalace.com/show-te...ft-myself.html

Bob

Originally Posted by razorfranken81

Thank you, I will definitely let the Böker managing director know of their error soon, and the poor English as my own.

Another small question for you. Do you work for Boker? I am sure that the managing director would be interested to know the comments that one of his employees is making on an end users forum.

Bob

Mr. Cangooner you misunderstand, I am meaning you cannot be the master distiller and not taste whisky several times each day. It is a requirement of that particular job's competency in my opinion, I don't know how you could be a non-drinker and state you are the master distiller of the whisky. Similarly, I myself have never known of a razor grinder that does not use an open razor to shave, both man and woman alike, and I am nearly forty years old and have known razor grinders intimately for over twenty years.

Mr. DZEC thank you for your kindness from moderation team perspective, it seems almost here are very cordial.

Mr. BobH I can wholly confirm, your Böker was honed upon the same convex hones and using the common platen discs you see in many Solingnen videos, also always slightly convex.

I am not here to represent a company, I am here to speak toward the interest of the Solingen cutlery as general concept. Certainly, that is a financial interest. But when people here or similar forums write things like as example Dovo razors are partially made in China (this is completely illegal by the Solingen copyright law and it is one of the best enforced trademarks in the world, not even China will dare offer a counterfeit with those precise words on the steel) or that they lift the spine off of the platen during the establishment of the cutting edge, the German way is simply not to address that which they know not to be true. You will likely never read any comment from anyone at Böker, Dovo, Erbe, or Wacker. As you in this forum are likely aware, however, Dovo recently reorganized after insolvency proceedings and the straight razor industry as a whole is near at historical nadir and first such time period since their revival ~20yrs prior, so someone needs to speak for the jobs we need when something that is objectively incorrect is written as fact. Subjective terms like "not shave ready" do not bother, it is only objective statements such as made in China, lifting a spine, using a flat hone, etc., that need to be addressed by Solingen if we are to keep our professions for our next generation. The forthcoming 'shave ready machine certificate' is a step toward that preference for objective and not subjective declarations. In the end America is by far the strongest market so we will have to speak up toward objective things for hearts and minds where appropriate. The candor of these forums is wholly appreciated in any case.

Originally Posted by DZEC

A note on how this conversation seems to be progressing as I get the feeling some folks are getting a bit exercised by some of the comments: please maintain a cordial and inviting level of discussion even when the topics and points of view might be somewhat controversial.

This ^^^^

I personally find the thread interesting. Still trying to figure out exactly what is being said, but interesting. Would love to sit down with one of the engineers with paper, pencil, and calculator. I would rather that the thread did not get shut down.

All these posts from razorfranken81 and rasur81 (B&B, closed) do is result in innumerable posts about how bad Solingen grinding is these days. If these posts weren’t made, very little would be said about the poor grinding. If someone really wanted to hurt Solingen razor production and their vendors, they’d post many such comments across the forums and then no one would want to buy Solingen razors.