Thread: An ebay razor ( no not a Gold Dollar) review.

Hopefully Luigi is reading this. Most of not all Chinese blanks that I've seen do look a bit more generic. The spine issue could be alleviated by using tape. The hardness well that will prove a bit more difficult, as it will mean probably upgrading the whole procedure maybe some equipment or materials. Didn't hartz razors have the the same spine problem during their first batches? Ralf Aust had some qc issues on their first batches and now they sell on srd. My point ifs that this guy is producing a razor that is 7/8 of the way there. Most of the complains that I have could be fixed with a bit more attention to detail. While not at dovo's quality yet they might be pretty close.

That may be so Rocarule, and I'm not suggesting otherwise. The hardness bit is easy - the tempering equipment must already exist, all that needs to be done is precise measuring and timing for the RC level required.

Hart and Aust did indeed have some troubles - everyone does sooner or later - but the price of their product despite being lowered, especially in Dovo's case by holding a large share of the market, is still well above the $60 dollars you paid. As a general rule, the smaller the outfit the more the price. That he is able to produce from raw tool steel a one-man, hand-made product like a razor for $60 - time after time - quite frankly amazes me. He might be a rich altruist, of course.

Regards,
Neil

Rocarule

On this site http://www.coticule.be/wedges.html is an excel spreadsheet where you plug in your measurements for spine width and blade with and it will tell you the angle of the bevel with different layers of tape or without tape. Note that the blade with is measured from the home wear down. I am pretty sure that if you do this exercise you will see that the spine is much too narrow to give you a bevel angle that is within norm. That might explain why another poster needed 5 layers of tape to get what he wanted in an edge. Definitely not saying the razor won't shave just that it is out of spec, possibly, in spine width.

Bob

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

... That he is able to produce from raw tool steel a one-man, hand-made product like a razor for $60 - time after time - quite frankly amazes me. He might be a rich altruist, of course.

That's a good point.
In last 3 months he's got 33 feedback for that razor, that is 11 razors per month at a price oscillating between 30 and 60 euro (40-80 $).
That is making sense only in the perspective of a new entry in the market and in partial cost recovery for some pre-production. Though scales are very cheap he cannot continue longtime to loose money like that.

Hello

it's made by a french guy nammed Luigi who sells a lot of shave ready razors on ebay.fr, I dont know where the blades come from because he didn't forge them, he just refinish and sharpen them to the "shave ready" standart (china ?)

Originally Posted by charlie48horlogerie

Hello

it's made by a french guy nammed Luigi who sells a lot of shave ready razors on ebay.fr, I dont know where the blades come from because he didn't forge them, he just refinish and sharpen them to the "shave ready" standart (china ?)

Hi Charlie,

Is the 'refinishing and sharpen' info posted anywhere on the web? I haven't been able to find anything definite, just hints....

Regards,
Neil

I contacted Luigi via e-mail, and he told me the razors are made in Italy by a friend. He also mentioned that almost 100% of his customer were pleased with this razor. Furthermore when i mentioned the spine he wasnt aware of any issues with it.

Originally Posted by rocarule

Now this begs the question; if he can produce a razor of this quality for this price why can't dovo do the same?

Well, usually, Dovo razors come without the following features:

Originally Posted by rocarule

Now here are the cons or what I perceive to be negative
1 the razor has a thin spine for the size of the blade which makes its bevel wide and looks kind of funky. On top of that the bevel is a little uneven.
2 the finish of the blade leaves something to be desired. It is polish almost mirror smooth but grinding marks still present. The lettering could have been done better.
3 the scales are too sharp; rounded edges could improve the feel

More attention to details = higher production costs.

I like the look of it, best of luck.

But let's face it only the first one really matters. I have seen dovo razors first hand cosmetically that aren't much better. Another thing to consider is that unless you buy from srd you aren't getting a shave ready razor.

Originally Posted by rocarule

But let's face it only the first one really matters. I have seen Dovo razors first hand cosmetically that aren't much better. Another thing to consider is that unless you buy from srd you aren't getting a shave ready razor.

I can second that - I have seen a lot of abominations from Dovo: rough grinds, poorly finished steel, warps and kinks, cold-shuts, etc, etc, and not just on the cheaper models either, I might add.

With regard to the thinness of the spine, from what Sterm says that is because the stock bar steel used comes from a knife-making supplies place. However, you can get at least 6mm thick bar from some such places and if you buy from a metal fabrication shop (which should be cheaper!) than you can get almost any thickness that would suit any razor of any width.

I have found one thread - on a forum that Charlie subscribes, to incidentally, which in essence says that Luigi has a friend in Sicily who makes the blades and that they are most definitely not from China. That makes me wonder again - if two individuals are involved, then the selling price is preposterous. A steel blank for one razor costs anything from £25 - £40 depending on type, a little less if bought in bulk. Then there is the cutting to shape and grinding and the cost of consumables and electric, hole drilling, scales - say what? - £5 a pair at the very cheapest and more for anything fancy, which these are, pinning, blade etching, honing, advertising, Ebays fees, PayPals fees, packaging, - in my opinion this already comes to far more than what the razor is selling for.

The same thread mentioned above states that they are certainly not shave ready, which once again surprises me - didn't Luigi make his reputation from his restoration/honing abilities? Surely he hones each razor himself? Which brings me to your statement 'unless you buy from SRD you aren't getting a shave-ready razor' - utter poppycock.

I'm sorry if it seems like I am doubting nearly everything you say (Rocarule) but I have only ever dealt with hard facts and transparency, so I find it hard to deal with cryptic, undisclosed information. In the above thread Luigi claims that the reason for not revealing his friend's identity is something to do with the razor being unregistered or unpatented or something of that sort, which seems a little odd to me. I know that getting a patent can be pricey, but the unitary EU patents have slashed the price considerably, and for much of the timeframe we are talking about they were all but abolished in Italy, anyway (changed in Jan 2007 I believe).

So, in the absence of any concrete information I must remain sceptical about the origin of the Gladiator Razor.

Regards,
Neil