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Hello Gentlemen! I am looking to begin straight razor shaving and i read some of Christopher Moss' basic guide. He gave a site to hit for a first razor and I wanted to ask some of the pros if this one would be very good to open and begin shaving with.
DOVO Straight Razors
Any input would be sooo appreciated!
Thank you in advance.
Yea, good razor, good site. Razor might not be sharp though. You can get in at a lower price point if you want to.
Yes, as AFDavis says, good razor but you can get started for less money. If you want to start with a brand-new blade, look at Dovo's Best Quality. I recommend a half-hollow grind for a beginner; it's more forgiving of your shaving technique. Superiorshave.com carries them.
You'll need a strop at the same time you get your razor. Practice stropping first with a butter knife--it's a strange motion and you can damage both strop and blade when you flip and change directions. See our Wiki for all sorts of info and videos.
If you don't need to start with a brand-new blade, shop on our Classifieds, where the vendors know what "shave-ready" means, or at whippeddog.com. Whippeddog specializes in inexpensive beginner blades. They're good shavers but obviously used.
Also from our Wiki is a primer on straight razors, so you'll know what you're reading about while shopping.
Good luck and best wishes and welcome to SRP!
The razor is excellent. I have purchased razors from that vendor before and they were not even close to being shave ready. That was a few years ago, and they may have a better honemeister on staff, but in my experience, no, you won't be able to open it and shave with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by JACNY
If you want to try out straight shaving without all the hassle of honing, a shavette might be the way to go. Alternately, there are many vendors here on the forum that can provide you with a shave ready blade.
Thanks for your comments, gents - much appreciated. I did find this razor and accessories on the superior shave site:
Dovo #101581 5/8" 'Best Quality' Half-Hollow Ground Round Point Razor (Black, 44g)
$63.45
Is this one already prepped and honed and ready to use?
Should I also purchase the sleeve: 6 x 1.5" Treated Cotton Sleeve
$4.50 In-Stock Free Shipping Worldwide
(Price When Purchased w/ Any Other Items)
And the Stropp:56-195012 Tension-Mounted Russian Leather Strop
$53 In-Stock Free Shipping Worldwide
Thanks again!
PS - would I also need this paste for the stropp?
Dovo Yellow Strop Paste w/ Free Shipping (USA ONLY)
$9 In-Stock
Thanks!
I would suggest you try a vintage blade from the classifieds, whippeddog, gemstar customs, holli4pirating or any of the others who are members here and know a thing or two about honing. IME if one razor isn't honed properly from a vendor then none of them are. As a new shaver you won't know the difference out of the box and we would not want that to deter you from this art.
If you want a new blade you can't go wrong at straight razor designs, the razors come shave ready plus you get a free honing certificate for when you dull it. They are not the only supplier with new and honed blades, but they have some great strops with replaceable leather so when one gets cut you can replace it. The upfront cost is a little higher that way, but it saves in the long run. If you order from the same place you can generally save on shipping.
As for the case it is optional I didn't get one for some time after I had a few straights and still don't keep most of mine in cases.
I prefer a hanging strop for my daily use with no paste. Paste is generally a bad idea on your daily strop.
You need that storage sock if you live in a humid area or if you're going to store your razor in the streamy bathroom.
You definitely need a strop. A plain leather strop is used before and after your shave--here's some stropping info from the Wiki.
The yellow paste is not abrasive--it's a leather treatment only. You can get the same result by rubbing the strop with the palm of your hand every day, so the paste is optional.
Straight Razor designs does have a nice deal with the honing certificate, but I don't think they stock the half-hollow Dovos.
Can some one explain Dovo's paste to me because I'm trying to decide what to buy to refresh my razor
Royal Shave Dovo Strop Paste
should I buy all of them or just one color its kind of confusing and how to use them, do i but the green on the back side of my leather strope? the red on one side of my felt strop with the grey one on the other side.
I hope some one can shed some light on this for me.
Only place this here because the entry was about paste
I suppose you could do what you describe, but if your canvas and leather strops hang from a common clamp like mine do you'll get cross-contamination between the green paste and whatever's on the back side of your canvas.
In general, you should start with the finest grit possible and go to a coarser grit only if the finer one didn't give your desired results.
Six and three microns both sound pretty big for strop paste; I'm used to seeing 0.5 or 0.3 microns for that. If you're going to use such big grit you might as well go to a stone.
Based on this post, the 6u paste would be equivalent to a stone with grit of about 3300, and the 3u to a grit around 6900. Neither of those are considered polishing grits, I don't think.
Every time you strop you move your edge profile farther away from its original, bevel-set honeable shape, and if you strop with such coarse grits as these it'll happen really quickly. In that case, you are better off going to a barber's hone or some really light touches on an 8k.
Some people like diamond paste or spray, others like chromium oxide. I've used both and agree with the assessment that CrOx gives a smoother-shaving edge. My diamond spray is 0.5u and I think my CrOx is the same.
There's more info and other products available at The Superior Shave, where I've had good experiences doing business.
Check out stropping info on our Wiki, too. There's probably good info about using pastes vs. going back to the hones.
Best wishes!