Thread: Dovo Bismarck

I had a few older Dovo's from (many) years ago.
Stopped shaving with an open razor awhile back,..but then decided it was time to try it again.
I have a decent Silver King that I started with ( the Dovo's went away ), and an old Wade/Butcher that lived up to the last part of it's name....shaves well, but too big for my face.
So I broke down and bought me a Bismarck from Vintage Blades, and it came honed ,Lynn did the work, and my god,..what a very nice smooth shaver !!!!
The only drawback I found was when I went to give it a couple of strokes on the strop, post shave
The backstrap has some sharp edges and as I rolled the blade, it left scratches on my nice strop.
So beware lads ! It's a fine shave,..but be mindful of the jimps !

Randy

Randy,

Don't worry about those scratches on your strop. They give it character.

Welcome to SRP. Hang on to that big old W&B. The more you get back in the groove of straight razor shaving the more you'll get along with all size blades, and a change of pace is nice once in awhile. Plus if you send that to Lynn he can put an edge on it the equal of that Bismarck he honed for you.

Wow that's weird. I can't imagine they were very deep scratches... or were they?

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Welcome to SRP. Hang on to that big old W&B. The more you get back in the groove of straight razor shaving the more you'll get along with all size blades, and a change of pace is nice once in awhile. Plus if you send that to Lynn he can put an edge on it the equal of that Bismarck he honed for you.

Thanks guys.
I returned to this art form a couple years ago. Just so you know that I'm not a total newbie, and I shaved for years ( 30+ years ago) with a straight.

The W&B has just too large a blade and a mean tip , and I find that I'm catching parts of my face with it, no matter how slow I take it.
Not adverse to a little bloodletting,..but not as much as it's producing !

As for the scratches, they were deep enough to change the drag on the strop.
I've rubbed them out, and will just slow down a bit when I use her.

Many thanks to all,....looking forward to enjoying/sharing/ contributing as I can.

The best to you all,

Randy

This is one of the ways/reasons I use to justify my strop collection. Any new to me razor with spine work is relegated to my Mountain Mike for a few runs. Once it is proven safe it can graduate to a better strop.

I have a Bismarck in red scales, it's a fine shaver. Yes, the spine scratches my strop as well, even after all these years. I hoped that my linen strop would somehow tame the file lines, but it still leaves scratch lines. Oh well. I just use scotch tape on the spine when I'm stropping, problem solved.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

I have a Bismarck in red scales, it's a fine shaver. Yes, the spine scratches my strop as well, even after all these years. I hoped that my linen strop would somehow tame the file lines, but it still leaves scratch lines. Oh well. I just use scotch tape on the spine when I'm stropping, problem solved.

Thanks Ryan82,
I later dug up some previous posts, and saw your trick for this.
I actually tried it this morning, and problem solved !

My thanks to you sir !

Best,

Randy

Originally Posted by U2u

This is one of the ways/reasons I use to justify my strop collection. Any new to me razor with spine work is relegated to my Mountain Mike for a few runs. Once it is proven safe it can graduate to a better strop.

Good advice !
I'll definitely remember that from this point forward !

Randy

I will normally remove sharp edges from the shoulders and the spine prior to stropping. A spine with hone wear may be quite sharp at the end. The shoulders can and often are sharp after honing due to touching the edge of the stone or just plain wear over the years. Some shoulders and spines from the factory are sharp.
~Richard