My new Dovo should not do this!

Not at all happy here... I picked up a new Dovo 5/8" a couple of weeks ago as a daily shaver (giving my vintage blades a rest during the week). After my 8th or so shave with the new Dovo, there was some discomfort. I rinsed it off, went back over to the strop, and immediately noticed two small chips near the tip of the blade on the bevel edge. :(

These are small, but certainly visible to the naked eye. I'm dumbfounded as to their origin - I'm always quite careful when handling my razors; never touching the washbasin or the faucet, and I strop carefully.

I've since put in an e-mail to the service department at the vendor via which I purchased the razor to inquire about a replacement. Barring them stepping up and exchanging the blade for me, I assume the only way to repair this is to have the blade breadknifed to flatten the chipped area, then re-honed, shortening the blade width 1/16" or so.

Here's a (very poor) photo of the damaged blade tip - unfortunately, to see the chip, I had to get the camera so close it could not properly focus:

That small of a chip should be able to be honed out. Bread knifing is for really damaged blades.

Stropping may also remove the chip.

Hopefully that vendor will take care of you.

Sometimes the edges get so thin they chip. It was probably not u just the edge.

this type of thing could have happened as a result of many things that you may not have even noticed. I can't really get a good idea of what the chips look like from your photo, but I agree that a good honing should fix you up. Do a forum search to see if any of the members are still offering free honings.

I hope so. I spent some time on the strop - both canvas and leather - hoping I could smooth it out, but to no avail. It started leaving a scratch line along my leather strop, so I stopped in fear that it might also cause the strop irreperable damage. Hopefully, as you say, it would be shallow enough to be corrected with re-honing the blade, but it's larger than can be seen in the poor photo. In either case, it's just aggrivating that a brand new blade would have issues so quickly as to create the unneeded expense of extra work!

The strop can be repaired easily with an emory stone and some neets or beeswax.

There are threads here on this topic.

Thank you, gentlemen. It appears now to be a moot issue - I just received a message back from the vendor offering to exchange the razor for a fresh one.

Incidentally, the vendor was KnifeCenter. I didn't want to mention the name until I knew the outcome of the service interaction. Kudos to their service team for making the issue right.

if vendor wants to exchange it that is ok go head do so. But usually that is a not big problem. we live very close to each other. you need help contact one of us . GL

Glad it all worked out nicely. This chip could have been caused by the blade biting on of the scales when you close it.

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Originally Posted by MrDavid

Thank you, gentlemen. It appears now to be a moot issue - I just received a message back from the vendor offering to exchange the razor for a fresh one.

Incidentally, the vendor was KnifeCenter. I didn't want to mention the name until I knew the outcome of the service interaction. Kudos to their service team for making the issue right.

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I have use many vendor during my short but crazy razor buildup. I have found the knifecenter to be very nice, well priced and easy to talk to. I never had to return anything but it appears that they are good in that regard as well.

Crom

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Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

if vendor wants to exchange it that is ok go head do so. But usually that is a not big problem. we live very close to each other. you need help contact one of us . GL

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Mr David youre a very lucky guy!;) I f you need anything let either Sham/hi_bud_gl or myself know. Enjoy SRP!

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Originally Posted by Kees

Glad it all worked out nicely. This chip could have been caused by the blade biting on of the scales when you close it.

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+1 on the most likely culprit.

Stropping does not repair small nicks in the edge, as stated wrongly earlier on. It rather causes scratches in the strop's surface, as you found out.

I expect that the vendor will not replace the blade. Don't hesitate taking Hi-bud-gl's offer. He comes highly recommended. Nun2Sharp is equally recommendable, so you have a luxury problem there :)

Best regards,
Bart.

(edit: I first missed reading the post where you announced the vendor is indeed replacing the razor. That really surprises me.)

Sorry to hear about the blade mrdavid,glad to hear that the vendor is doing an exchange for yah. If it arrives not "shave ready" you're very lucky to have some excellent resources nearby to get it ready for yah.

It's good that the store will replace it. It's good to have a store that takes care of you!

I've had one razor do that on me and thankfully I happened to be paying attention and realized that I was allowing the edge to just barely touch the scales upon closing it. So I popped in a slightly wider spacer and all was well (it was a fairly old low cost one so I didn't mind swapping out the spacer). I managed to remove the tiny chip by simply honing it on the 4k stone followed by the 8 and 12k and felt strop. Man if I lived near Sham I'd be over every weekend learning his honing techniques! Lucky guy!

It puzzles me as to why you didn't notice the chips early on. Perhaps you've beard of steel. I jest. I'm glad the vendor will be more than happy to exchange it for you. In general businesses don't do that if it's result of neglect or abuse. Not saying you did either.

Take up Hi_Bud's offer as well as others. I've seen their work. You're blessed to be local to these very talented gents.

:Beer:

Those chips look like some I had on a new thiers once. The culprit was fluff on the hone from wiping it clean, so watch out for that too.

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Originally Posted by SiRed8

It puzzles me as to why you didn't notice the chips early on. Perhaps you've beard of steel. I jest. I'm glad the vendor will be more than happy to exchange it for you. In general businesses don't do that if it's result of neglect or abuse. Not saying you did either.

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Indeed, I was actually a bit surprised at their immediate offer, however I explained to them fairly plainly in my correspondence that I wasn't some hack to was throwing his razor around. I have a humble collection of razors that I take special care of... I think that, compared with the fact that the issue happened almost immediately after arrival, had them agree with me that there was an issue with the blade itself.

Nun2Sharp has been kind enough to extend his honing service for a few of my other razors. I can't wait to get out and see him!

Thank you again, gentlemen, for your words of advice!

I have an new Dovo that seems to have the same problem - when I was stropping it the other day I noticed what appeared to be a small piece of the canvas (web) strop stuck on the blade in about the same place as you are indicating in your photo - however there did not seem to be any effect on the shave, so I just put it down to hallucinations and my long time away from the land of the straight razor. Will have to check again in the morning when I stop again.

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Originally Posted by harleyprof

I have an new Dovo that seems to have the same problem - when I was stropping it the other day I noticed what appeared to be a small piece of the canvas (web) strop stuck on the blade in about the same place as you are indicating in your photo - however there did not seem to be any effect on the shave, so I just put it down to hallucinations and my long time away from the land of the straight razor. Will have to check again in the morning when I stop again.

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While you were stropping did you happen to roll the blade in midst of it? By that I mean you weren't entirely finished and as a result you inevitably nicked your strop. Even though you roll towards the spine, I discovered that if I'm not relaxed and trying to speed up slicing/nicking said strop will be endured. Speed will come naturally take it slow. But don't strop to slow as that can be proven to be ineffective as well.

You can tell if you're doing it right: it's supposed to produce a low smooth sound or muffled sound.

You're not alone I've done this a few times and stopped. Sometimes the culprit is not having the strop taut enough or that it's the strop itself is loopy ( if there's such a thing ).

The experts here will tell you more and I'm not one

Hope that helps :beer:

Oh and welcome aboard!

Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Wiki
Common stropping mistakes? - Straight Razor Place Forums
Do you find some razors harder to strop than others? - Straight Razor Place Forums

Seraphim Stropping with the quickness!!!

I think you are quite correct, that it is my "style" or lack thereof! I have been away from the clean world of straight razor shaving for about 25 years, and think that my muscle memory ain't what it used to be! I appreciate the feed back and the welcome, and will be paying careful attention to my "roll" in the morning. Will also check out the links you provided.

peace,
mark

MrDavid,

If your razor is a Dovo Best, then using a pasted strop (CrOx) will smooth out most small edge defects very quickly; the steel on these razors is not too hard; I have succesfully removed quite a few self-inflicted edge 'defects' this way on my Dovo Best when I was new to the SR game :)

Like nicked strops and cuts to the face, small edge nicks seem to be part of the 'rites of passage' !! ( Or was it just me being cack-handed :p )

Best regards

Russ

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Originally Posted by harleyprof

I think you are quite correct, that it is my "style" or lack thereof! I have been away from the clean world of straight razor shaving for about 25 years, and think that my muscle memory ain't what it used to be! I appreciate the feed back and the welcome, and will be paying careful attention to my "roll" in the morning. Will also check out the links you provided.

peace,
mark

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No problem Mark. If you haven't already buy a cheap razor to practice with or use a butter knife to simulate stropping ( in my case I use cheap for both honing and stropping ). That's what I did before I got my SR stuff.