Can a zeepk be salvaged?

Howdy all! I am a rank noob and before I found this forum I made an uneducated ebay purchase of two zeepk razors and strop. I've been wanting to get into straight razor shaving for years and finally decided to make a move in that direction. Too bad it was the wrong direction! So now I have two of these things and was wondering if they could at all be salvaged with some elbow grease and a good norton 4000/8000 wet stone? The strop seems to be serviceable, but I need to know if I should just throw these razors away or not. Also, is the difference between a 1/2 hollow and full hollow ground blade worth the price difference?

Thanks!

Extreme new guy :D Welcome to SRP
No the Zeecraps are just that, I tried once, as have others to actually get an edge on them, but it just doesn't happen....
You can use them as practice for your honing stroke on the stones but they just won't hold an edge....

What price difference???? on what razors???

Thanks for the reply! I was kinda figuring they would become my hone practice units. Oh well, lesson learned. As far as the hollow vs. 1/2 hollow ground, I noticed a $30.00 difference between a Dovo 1/2 hollow and a full hollow ground blade. Just curious as to what the advantage was to having a full hollow ground blade, and if that translated into $30.00 worth of advantage. Specifically, the Dovo 5/8 "Classic Black" 1/2 hollow ground, and the 5/8 "Imitation Tortoise shell" full hollow ground. Is the difference in price due to the scale, or the blade?

The Zeepks are a waste. You can use them as letter openers or something. The strop is also good for nothing.
Full hollows are more difficult to produce, but these days, stiffer grinds (from full wedges to 1/2 hollows) are more in demand in our community. Any blade made by DOVO should turn into a decent shaver. Most beginners start with 5/8-6/8 sizes and then decide whether they wanna go bigger, smaller or stay where they are.

Ok guys I ordered a Dovo Classic Black 5/8" honemeister-ized razor, and looking forward to getting it this week! Thanks for the input. The Zeepk was definitely CRAP, and I'm so glad that I found this forum in time to keep me from getting completely discouraged from straight razor shaving. In fact, I learned of it from the videos Lynn did on you tube.

Cheers,

-727dude

Same situation for me, altho i'm not sure on what type of brand my razor is. But the fact it doesn't have any markings doesn't give me much hope,

Picking up my 4k/8k combo this week, So plan to work on the cheap razor with that, while hopefully getting another one honed by a pro so i have something to work towards

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Originally Posted by netsplit

Same situation for me, altho i'm not sure on what type of brand my razor is. But the fact it doesn't have any markings doesn't give me much hope,

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If there are no markings, it is generally crap.
No markings means that whoever made it
a) did not care about the blade
b) does not want to be associated with it.

There are unmarked wapienicas I think, but that is more because of the wide variance of communist manufacturing methods. Wapis are quite good, even if you should have an unmarked one.

I have an unmarked one that I restored and it turned out to be a good shaver. But that was a luck of the draw situation I guess.

Depends where you got the razor, if it were brand new, and how much you paid.

I've seen some decent unmarked shavers. Also, some only have brand etching or are just branded but have no maker's mark. However all of those were made when nobody would dare sell a substandard razor, so they subcontracted a major maker to just put the customer's brand on the product. These days, if you're buying a new razor, it either has to be a TI, a DOVO/rebranded DOVO (Conk/Kamisori) or a custom.

You made a good move picking up a honed Dovo.
Those Pakistani razors are not worth the metal they are made out of...

Those zeepaks would be useful cleaning gunk from the bottom of your shoes. That's about it.:roflmao

Maybe make an unattractive paperweight out of it? :shrug:

After browsing on this site for some months and doing research I put my plan in action. I bought a $5 vintage no name for practice and a $15 George W. Korn just to see what kind of edge I might be able to put on it. I think when I'm ready I'll take a plunge toward a new DOVO or TI for actual shaving.

I received my Dovo 5/8" classic black today! I was glad I didn't shave yesterday, as it gave a great opportunity to put it to work on a 2 day face. I know it is recommended that a newbie start out with just the sides and then work up slowly to the more difficult parts, but I went ahead and went for the full Monty. Amazingly, I drew less blood than I do sometimes with a safety razor! For the parts that I still did not quite get very well, I just re-did with the safety razor. All in all, a great first straight razor shave. The first of many! It sure is great to have this forum full of experienced straight razor guys! Thanks!!

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Originally Posted by 727dude

I received my Dovo 5/8" classic black today! I was glad I didn't shave yesterday, as it gave a great opportunity to put it to work on a 2 day face. I know it is recommended that a newbie start out with just the sides and then work up slowly to the more difficult parts, but I went ahead and went for the full Monty. Amazingly, I drew less blood than I do sometimes with a safety razor! For the parts that I still did not quite get very well, I just re-did with the safety razor. All in all, a great first straight razor shave. The first of many! It sure is great to have this forum full of experienced straight razor guys! Thanks!!

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Greetings, fellow pilot! (I'm a 737 FO). I just did my first straight shave last night. I'm hooked, but I guess it's something we'll have to do when we're not at work; I think the TSA guys wouldn't have much of a sense of humor if we tried to take a straight through security! :w

They are absolutely useless for everything including learning to hone with because they will never get sharp; thus you will never know if you are doing it right or wrong.

YES!! You can salvage a Zeepk!! Recycle the plastic scales and then scrap the blade and there ya go, its been salvaged!

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Originally Posted by FloorPizza

Greetings, fellow pilot! (I'm a 737 FO). I just did my first straight shave last night. I'm hooked, but I guess it's something we'll have to do when we're not at work; I think the TSA guys wouldn't have much of a sense of humor if we tried to take a straight through security! :w

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Greetings fellow 737 pilot! I'm flying the 737 also, now from the left seat. Lost my beloved 727 back in 2001 when my company unceremoniously sent them all to the desert.:td But the 737 is a good ship too, and I enjoy flying her! Too bad we have to limit our straight razor shaving to our days off. I'm really enjoying it! I just ordered a Norton 4000/8000 water stone to keep it good and sharp.

I agree that the Zeepk is total crrrrrrrrrap! Good point too about not being a good hone practice unit. I used it today to open the box my Dovo came in! That's it...it can be my new box opener! There, see? It can be used for something after all!! :roflmao

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 727dude

Greetings fellow 737 pilot! I'm flying the 737 also, now from the left seat. Lost my beloved 727 back in 2001 when my company unceremoniously sent them all to the desert.:td But the 737 is a good ship too, and I enjoy flying her! Too bad we have to limit our straight razor shaving to our days off. I'm really enjoying it! I just ordered a Norton 4000/8000 water stone to keep it good and sharp.

I agree that the Zeepk is total crrrrrrrrrap! Good point too about not being a good hone practice unit. I used it today to open the box my Dovo came in! That's it...it can be my new box opener! There, see? It can be used for something after all!! :roflmao

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The same thing happened to my brother... he was flying right seat in the 727 til 2001, moved to the right seat of the -800, then upgraded to -800 captain three months ago. I'll be flying the 737 until retirement (OK, I'm sure I just gave away my Company ;) ), but I can't imagine flying a finer jet for all those years.

Using the Zeepk to open the Dovo box...LOL, I about blew diet coke out of my nose when I read that.