Thread: Frown on Dovo from Stropping?

Hey all.

Can you get a frown from regular stropping?

I bought 2 Dovos from 2 different guys on Craigslist: A tortoise shell Special - it was brand new as I could tell with a 60x loupe, and a Best Quality which was pretty neglected, but I got for real cheap. The Special honed up perfectly and for the past year has been one of my fav shavers. The BQ had a frown. I asked the kid how often he took it to the stones and he replied "what stones?". I moved heaven and earth to get the frown out and was somewhat satisfied with the shave after the work was done.

Fast forward a year later and about 15 shaves for each razor and was shocked to find both of them have slight frowns. These have not been on stones since I initially worked with them, nor have they been CrO'd to death. I checked a majority of my regulars and none of them are like that. I always strop light and am pretty sure I under-strop due to my reliable laziness.

Is this something to expect from newer Dovos?

Man, that is a new one on me. Never heard of creating a frown by stropping on plain linen and leather.

Bob

I don't think it is possible, but I was wrong once before. Photos would be a help. Do you know the honing history behind the razor ?

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I don't think it is possible, but I was wrong once before. Photos would be a help. Do you know the honing history behind the razor ?

I agree photos would help but in my delusional state I sent those frowns a'packin... It didn't take long to correct, but took some time bringing the edges back.

The Special was a bday gift to the guy who sold it to me from his ex... He had absolutely no interest in using it. There was still a slight 'sticker' residue on the blade face. IMO it was factory edge. The BQ was from a kid who just didn't like using it. He bought it as a combo kit with a strop, paste, brush etc... I assume he only used it on the strop (which I have - there was no paste on it, but it looked used).

Currently, the edges are more straight than smiley, ... perhaps a more defined smile would help? dunno... again the weird thing is that my other regular shavers, including 2 other newer dovos' don't have that problem.

Even if you stropped on CrOx every day for a year let alone for 15 shaves you shouldn't get a frown, as Jimmy says photos will help. How many laps do you do on linen and leather? I just did an experiment with 1000 laps to see if there was any edge degradation. There wasnt.

What width is your strop...?
What type of strop.
What type linen.
Did you buy it used, if so the linen may have been coated with diamond spray, some vintage strops have a white compound in them.
Hmmm, my only thoughts.

I don't buy it. Yer talking about moving some metal there. You would have to strop non stop for years to do that on plain leather.

to address all of the points mentioned above:

-No Pictures, sorry, It was more important to me to get them shave ready and I didn't have a lot of time.
-I do about 10 on the nylon side and count up to 'meh, good enough' on the leather side (~30)
-strop is 3" Latigo, bought new, the other side is the nylon webbing stuff, don't know what it's called

Originally Posted by Aerdvaark

And that's what people do, strop on them for years....no?

In the OP's case stropping for only 15 shaves worth. Normal stropping does not remove steel just burnishes it.

Bob

Unless you are stropping on the edge of that strop, rather then the flat..... Nope

I have to believe you would have to be doing something SERIOUSLY wrong to create a frown.. Like stropping with the spine well off the strop