Thread: 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 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

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,

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...