Thread: Honing a Double Arrow

I have a Dovo as well, the DA is as good in some respects, for the money it is a great buy, i don't think you can do better.

Originally Posted by Leighton

But how well do they keep their edges? Just wondering.

I have found no problems in that department.
I repeat: they have good steel and good temper. The grind is ok. Some have minimal unevenness, but nothing so severe that it conflicts with sharpening. None of my 8 shows any warp.

They lack in the finish department.
The blades are finished very sparingly: the tip of the spine has a hard edge, that can leave a scratch at the strop. The tang has hard edges too. Both issues are easily resolved with a small piece of 600 or finer sandpaper.
They are not polished, the finish is at the same level as what you get with the finest "scotch brite" rotating sanding wheels. (I believe it's called a satin finish).

While honing, the shoulder of the blade hits the side of the hone at a point where the heel is not entirely resting on the hone. Starting the stroke from a slight diagonal position, resolves this issue.
Or you can do some careful reshaping work, grinding a bigger radius onto the heel.

The scales are total crap. They are flimsy. They are sloppy attached and touch the blade while closing.

It's the perfect blade for those who want to do some razor customization, like making new scales and final finishing the blade, optionally playing with its form a little.

Bart.

Originally Posted by Bart

I have found no problems in that department.
I repeat: they have good steel and good temper. The grind is ok. Some have minimal unevenness, but nothing so severe that it conflicts with sharpening. None of my 8 shows any warp.

They lack in the finish department.
The blades are finished very sparingly: the tip of the spine has a hard edge, that can leave a scratch at the strop. The tang has hard edges too. Both issues are easily resolved with a small piece of 600 or finer sandpaper.
They are not polished, the finish is at the same level as what you get with the finest "scotch brite" rotating sanding wheels. (I believe it's called a satin finish).

While honing, the shoulder of the blade hits the side of the hone at a point where the heel is not entirely resting on the hone. Starting the stroke from a slight diagonal position, resolves this issue.
Or you can do some careful reshaping work, grinding a bigger radius onto the heel.

The scales are total crap. They are flimsy. They are sloppy attached and touch the blade while closing.

It's the perfect blade for those who want to do some razor customization, like making new scales and final finishing the blade, optionally playing with its form a little.

Bart.

Thanks Bart. Would you recommend sanding the entire blade and hitting if with a polishing compound once i get it?

Think this is going to be my first attempt to make scales also. Going to use wood, even though it will induce a gag reflex in BeBerlin.

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

Thanks Bart. Would you recommend sanding the entire blade and hitting if with a polishing compound once i get it?

Think this is going to be my first attempt to make scales also. Going to use wood, even though it will induce a gag reflex in BeBerlin.

No need for any sanding. Hit it up with some polish if you like. But to sand out the satin grind marks would take much more effort than it is worth. Removing stock grind marks from a razor is just about as difficult as removing pitting from a vintage blade. Removing pittuing is a neccesity, removing grinding finish is not (it would be cool though!)

The advantage of the the initial DA-finish is, that it's easy to make alterations to the blade with a coarse grinding stone (be careful with the temper!!) and resurface with abrasive fiber wheels (I don't know what you actually call them in English, but I'm talking about those wheels that are made from a kind of abrasive mesh, the coarser ones mixed with flaps, the finer ones without flaps. 3M sells them under the Scotch Brite brand.) The finest one of those wheels will give a finish that blends completely with the original finish of a DA, so you'll only need to do the part you altered.
The "grittiness" of that finish is about 240. If you want a mirror polish, you need to sand progressively to 600 grit, leaving no trace of previous marks behind, and then you can take it to the buffing wheels. I pre-polish on sisal wheels with a brown Tripoli paste, polish on cotton wheels with a white paste for SS, and go for mirror with a "Blue rouge" on felt. The hard part is to cross the gap between the 240 wheels and the desired 600 grit. I do that by hand, in absence of a good alternative. I read it can also be done with coarse greaseless compounds on a sisal wheel, but I haven't tried that yet.
I fear I might completely loose the clean lines of a razor's design and be left with the very rounded effect you see on some restores, and which I personally am not fond of.

Bart.

I think the contrast between the "satin" finish and the "polished " honed bits looks nice.

Just to follow up, I got the DA back out last night, threw two layers of tape on it, which probably brought it back to where it was before all the hone wear, maybe a little more, and honed her up. It went surprisingly smoothly. I started on the DMT 325 then moved to the DMT 1200 to finish setting the bevel, then the norton 4k/8k, and finished on the chinese 12k. Shaved with it this morning, and the shave was good. I have no idea why I had so much trouble before, or why it went so easy this time

It didn't pass the "along the way" tests I've been using for other razors as well, but under the scope it looked great so I just kept progressing. In the end it came out great. Today's shave with it was really pretty darn nice

Great!
I'm glad you got it together after all.
I think you lost confidence in the razor when you were almost there.
I guess we all visit that place every once in a while. Usually at that price level, things are too good to be true. The DA is a pleasant exception to that rule.

Well done,
Bart.

Originally Posted by Leighton

But how well do they keep their edges? Just wondering.

not especially well. mine require more frequent maintenance than any of my antique razors, and way WAY more than a stainless.

Originally Posted by Bart

I have found no problems in that department.
I repeat: they have good steel and good temper. The grind is ok. Some have minimal unevenness, but nothing so severe that it conflicts with sharpening. None of my 8 shows any warp.

They lack in the finish department.
The blades are finished very sparingly: the tip of the spine has a hard edge, that can leave a scratch at the strop. The tang has hard edges too. Both issues are easily resolved with a small piece of 600 or finer sandpaper.
They are not polished, the finish is at the same level as what you get with the finest "scotch brite" rotating sanding wheels. (I believe it's called a satin finish).

While honing, the shoulder of the blade hits the side of the hone at a point where the heel is not entirely resting on the hone. Starting the stroke from a slight diagonal position, resolves this issue.
Or you can do some careful reshaping work, grinding a bigger radius onto the heel.

The scales are total crap. They are flimsy. They are sloppy attached and touch the blade while closing.

It's the perfect blade for those who want to do some razor customization, like making new scales and final finishing the blade, optionally playing with its form a little.

Bart.

I just recieved mine to day and it has the same problems with the shoulder and the junk scales. Going to rescale it before i worry about honing.