Thread: Hi from London :)

When I started I was using a piece of leather, i then got a vintage strop on Ebay which was an improvement then a basic Neil Miller strop and I was amazed at the difference. They are in the £20-£30 range but he's out of stock of them at the moment. Peronally I would use that imperial strop and get some more practice (build some muscle memory) so that if you nick it then its no great shakes then when he's got more in stock treat yourself, you wont be disapointed.

I don't know where you bought the Dovo but unless its been honed by someone after it left the factory its not likely to be properly shave ready, so yes it would be a good idea to have it honed. At least that way you know what a sharp razor should feel like.

Dovos have a sharp factory edge, but it is not shave ready unless the vendor specifically made it by honing. As Im based in London I'd be willing to hone it for you as Im sure several other guys here would.

Also I can recommend Neil's strops very highly. I have a Kanayama 80K which is probably the second most expensive strop on the market and like Neil's just as much. I have 2 of his, one of which is a custom refurbishment of a vintage ivory handled paddle strop in cordovan which has awesome draw. The other is a giant ebony strop with bridle/tallow tan. The business.

Originally Posted by Scipio

Dovos have a sharp factory edge, but it is not shave ready unless the vendor specifically made it by honing. As Im based in London I'd be willing to hone it for you as Im sure several other guys here would.

Also I can recommend Neil's strops very highly. I have a Kanayama 80K which is probably the second most expensive strop on the market and like Neil's just as much. I have 2 of his, one of which is a custom refurbishment of a vintage ivory handled paddle strop in cordovan which has awesome draw. The other is a giant ebony strop with bridle/tallow tan. The business.

Hi, I bought the razor online from Executive Shaving I think it is brand new from the factory, the case had been opened but the blade had a sticker on it. There is a little bit of evidence of machining or honing or machine work on each side of the heel of the razor. Their was no mention of honing or shave readyness on the site I bought it from I just assumed it would be ready when new until I posted on here that is lol.

I would be very interested in having someone make sure the razor is shave ready and at its best so it would be great if you could hone it for me. I will send you a PM

I must give a big thankyou to Scipio for honing my new Dovo for me today and giving me about an hour of his time to tell me about razors and hones and stroping etc. Also had quite an impressive collection of straight razors to show me

Its been a big help to actually see these techniques in action and I have just had a shave with the newly honed Dovo and have pretty much given my self a BBS shave, well except for along my jaw blades and those will take some practice. Scipio also lent me a razor to benchmark my Dovo against so I will try that one tomorrow and see how it compares to my Dovo, hopefully I will be sending it back to him soon.

Cheers!