My latest (shaving-related) purchases arrived late last week, including my new 6/8 Dovo Bismarck w/ dark red scales. She came prehoned from SRD (by Lynn I'm assuming) so there was little question about the shave readiness. Gentleman, I have to say that she may not be a custom or the most expensive blade but she's a beauty for sure!

This is the first honemeister edge I've experienced. For sh*ts and giggles I didn't strop for the first shave just to see what the pro edge was like, as I believe Lynn advocates. She's sharp for sure. My second shave I stropped as I normally would and had a nice shave. Now, the purpose of my post is twofold:

1) I noticed that the fancy spine is, while quite nice, actually quite jagged. After I stropped I noticed that my strop had been "roughed up" a bit, meaning the spine scraped the leather (or more specifically at the top and bottom of the strop where I turn the blade for the reverse stroke). Has anyone else experienced anuything like this with a fancy spine? I was thinking of taping the spine with some scotch tape before I strop it from now on. Does this sound reasonable?

2) If any other Bismarck owners would like to share their opinions, pictures or stories by all means go ahead.

Cheers,

Ryan