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03-26-2009, 02:56 PM #1
I think the razors listed are all hollow ground. I started with a 5/8ths hollow, and was a happy camper for many months. A 5/8ths might be easier to learn with, but there are many that start with larger blades so opinion will vary with an individual's experience.
While I like stainless, it may not be the ideal choice for a first razor. Opinion will vary on this also, but a carbon blade's edge will be easier to maintain.
Actually, I would advise you to forget ebay for a first razor and find one in the BST forum that is shave ready. You can trust the guys here, ebay is a lottery and chances are an ebay razor will not be shave ready unless purchased from one of the few really good ebay vendors. I will guarantee that Dovo Special is not shave ready just from the description, more than likely the Tennis is not shave ready either. Razors are not fit for shaving out of the box and these two were perhaps never honed. If they were it was so long ago that they would need to be re-honed anyway.
New users can encounter enough problems with a shave ready razor, starting with one that needs to be honed is almost too much to overcome unless you spend the additional dollars to send it out.
There is not much difference between the weight of a hollow ground 5/8ths and 6/8ths. Where the weight come in is for the heavier grinds. A sharp 5/8ths hollow will glide just fine.Last edited by Hawkeye5; 03-26-2009 at 03:04 PM.
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03-26-2009, 03:15 PM #2
Most guys recommend starting with a 5/8.
Smaller blades have great manoeverability, but are hard to judge the angle correctly if you're inexperienced. They're also more awkward to learn to strop there's less of them to get flat on the leather.
Larger blades, while being easier to strop, can be a bit unwieldy.
I'd go 5/8. If you really feel you want a larger blade, i'd recommend you go no more than 6/8 for your first.
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03-26-2009, 07:23 PM #3
so would the 13/16ths be too much? it's just 1/16th over 6/8
I found ou tthe widths, the the dovo 42 is 4/8s, the other dovos are 5/8s, and the tennis is 13/16.
So what I gather so far is the 42's are steel so they'll hold edge longer, whish is a plus if i send it to get honed, the 5/8s are the best newbie size, and the 13/16 will be easy to strop, so I won't mess the edge up. So what do I do now... I wanna say the wide one cus it's easier to strop and I think I'm gonna send whatever I buy to Lynn anyway, but then again... the SS ones will hold Lynn's edge longer... argh... decisions...
Thanks for all your help guys btw.Last edited by khaos; 03-26-2009 at 07:27 PM.
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03-27-2009, 06:31 AM #4
I'd recommend the Dovo special (1516). If I were getting a razor myself I'd have picked the Tennis (it was Tennis before Dovo bought the brand and if it says FritzBracht on the back it's Dovo), just because I like them and haven't had such a large one yet. I find 13/16 getting too large for my taste, but I'd still like to try it and there's always the possibility of reselling.
But as a first razor the 5/8 is better, and it may actually 11/16 which I'd say is ideal. You may end up liking wide blades, in which case you'd hate yourself for missing the opportunity, but I still maintain 13/16 is not the optimal razor to learn shaving with. It's 1/16 more than 6/8 but it's also 1/8 more than 11/16 and 3/16 over 5/8 (60% wider).
I'd stick with the carbon steel, even though the vintage no 41 which I sold recently could easily be mistaken for a carbon steel if you'd go by how it feels.
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03-27-2009, 12:48 PM #5
Thanks. That's really helpful. The special sadly, was on ebay and I've been outbid. I am now thinking of two things. There's a shave ready no-name solingen (the seller specializes in shave ready stuff and his reviews affirm that they are truly, not just factory shave ready) for like ten bucks. I think I will get that and the Tennis just because I love the Tennis and I don't want ot let it slip away, vs. the Dovo 100 which is not quite as nice, and costs a little too much to be a learning razor I mess up, but I don't think is nice enough to graduate to. Unless I'm really off the mark here. Another option is once again still getting the Tennis, but there's an almost free Red Head I could get and send out to get honed. I don't see Solingen stamped on the Red Head, but it's an old Fromm and is still stamped Germany. Does anyone know anythign about this? I've only seen like two relevant posts anywhere, here, B&B, etc. Not even an official website.
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03-27-2009, 03:36 PM #6
If you're talking ebay, the prices could go quite high in the last seconds, so don't consider any current price an indication of what the final one would be.
You have zero experience buying razors on ebay so it's not very likely you'll get a nice deal. You're staying with the most popular brands just because of it, but everybody else is bidding on them due to the brand recognition as well.
I'd suggest you stick with the classifieds or perhaps the double arrow razors, but it's your money and you can be spending it any way you like
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03-27-2009, 05:09 PM #7
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
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- Phoenix
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Thanked: 156Oh these are ebay bids. A significant number of us use sniper programs so we don't get into bidding wars with crazy people, so our bids don't go in until the last minute. Current price is absolutely no indication of final price. Shave ready razors starting at $10 will probably end at close to $100 for known brands.
Classifieds here or at the other place are your best bet for an inexpensive shave ready razor. Why? Because even if you win an ebay special, odds are more likely than not the razor is going to have some problems. Very bad for first straight.
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03-26-2009, 03:16 PM #8
So what I gather is that you would not recommend buying except from here, but all those razors are pretty similar?
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03-26-2009, 03:25 PM #9
- Join Date
- Dec 2008
- Location
- Washington, DC
- Posts
- 218
Thanked: 19If you buy from someone here, you know youll be getting a shave ready razor, well honed and ready to go. That is the most important thing when picking a first razor because it can really discourage someone if the razor isn't shave ready. If you buy from someone else, you may or may not be getting a finely honed blade. I think that's what the above posters were going for.
As far as the choices above, since they all sound pretty similar, and they are quality because they're Dovo, its down to personal aesthetics. Personally, I love the "special" because I like faux tortise. Stainless is less effort to keep clean and rust-free as well. It may be more effort to hone, but I wouldn't concern myself with that immediately.