Thread: Brand Spanking New Out Of The Box, But....

First of all, it's really, really great to have found you blokes..... shaving with a straight razor in England is rather a solitary affair!

I have only shaved and maintained with what you might call hand-me-downs, and have treated keeping them as sharp as I can as less of a problem, more of an absorbing interest. My real problem, if you like, has always been making sure the scales are internally absolutely free of moisture, something I find hard to guarantee before I close the razor up.

However my girlfriend tells me she is sending a brand new Dovo to me from Milan...aren't I the lucky one! The pearl one I think. The thing is, I have come across sites saying "Buy from here, honed for you free before shipping" WHAT? Well I fully expected to give it a decent introduction to the strop before lathering up, of course, I'm not that thick. But honing? When I'm the first person to see it since the factory glued the box up? What on Earth do these people mean?

Originally Posted by Blackpool

First of all, it's really, really great to have found you blokes..... shaving with a straight razor in England is rather a solitary affair!

I have only shaved and maintained with what you might call hand-me-downs, and have treated keeping them as sharp as I can as less of a problem, more of an absorbing interest. My real problem, if you like, has always been making sure the scales are internally absolutely free of moisture, something I find hard to guarantee before I close the razor up.

However my girlfriend tells me she is sending a brand new Dovo to me from Milan...aren't I the lucky one! The pearl one I think. The thing is, I have come across sites saying "Buy from here, honed for you free before shipping" WHAT? Well I fully expected to give it a decent introduction to the strop before lathering up, of course, I'm not that thick. But honing? When I'm the first person to see it since the factory glued the box up? What on Earth do these people mean?

These people mean that they will open the razor and hone it for you with purchase. Some will not hone if you request it.

IN my experience, a new Dovo will not be shave ready from the factory. When honing them, I do skip the 1k and go straight to my Naniwa 5k though. You'll likely want to send her out for honing.

Also, to prevent your scales from retaining water, do your best not to get them wet in the first place. No reason to get them wet, really. If you do, you can thread some toilet paper through, then set the razor out open and leave it to dry for a while.

Welcome to SRP. You have a great girl to be sending you a brand spanking new razor. I have never bought a new razor therefore cannot comment on your question. Having bought some used ones, they do not come shave ready. They are relatively sharp but not sharp enough to shave with. Again welcome and good luck with your new razors.

P.S. Send pics, we love razor porn.

Ken

Thank you, Gentlemen. I, to my mind quite naturally, thought that if Mr Dovo was making razors amongst the very finest in the World, then he might also be amongst the best honers in the World. Apparently not.

It all sounds to me like buying 300,000 dollars worth of brand new Rolls Royce with literally nothing on the clock, and before you can drive it down the road, first having to take it to the local garage to have the oil and plugs changed, and a new set of tires fitted!

It's natural to think that way and it takes a while to understand that there's a BIG difference between factory sharp and shave ready.

Originally Posted by Blackpool

Thank you, Gentlemen. I, to my mind quite naturally, thought that if Mr Dovo was making razors amongst the very finest in the World, then he might also be amongst the best honers in the World. Apparently not.

It all sounds to me like buying 300,000 dollars worth of brand new Rolls Royce with literally nothing on the clock, and before you can drive it down the road, first having to take it to the local garage to have the oil and plugs changed, and a new set of tires fitted!

That's not a fair comparison it's more like having the Rolls Royce tuned on a dyno rather than relying on factory settings

To make it more complicated, the Dovos from the factory are described as "pre-sharpened." Now you would think that would mean that they are sharpened in advance of your receiving it. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean that. Actually, I'm not certain what it means.

They certainly are partially sharpened, but most of them are not ready to shave in the pre-sharpened state.

They still need to be sharpened.

Originally Posted by Blackpool

I, to my mind quite naturally, thought that if Mr Dovo was making razors amongst the very finest in the World, then he might also be amongst the best honers in the World. Apparently not.

As it turns out, no razor manufacturer hones their razors to as sharp as they can be. They can't afford it. It would cut into their profit margin and they would not be able to compete with other manufacturers.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

Originally Posted by Blackpool

It all sounds to me like buying 300,000 dollars worth of brand new Rolls Royce with literally nothing on the clock, and before you can drive it down the road, first having to take it to the local garage to have the oil and plugs changed, and a new set of tires fitted!

Having to do something to a new product is pretty typical, really. I wash my clothes before the first time I wear them, I format my hard drives before using them, I let my cigars sit in my humidor before I smoke them, etc etc etc.

Originally Posted by Morty

As it turns out, no razor manufacturer hones their razors to as sharp as they can be. They can't afford it. It would cut into their profit margin and they would not be able to compete with other manufacturers.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

I'd never really thought about it this way, but I guess it makes sense. Honing a new out of the box Dovo (for example) probably takes about 10 minutes or so (maybe a bit less), which would certainly add up. Not to mention you'd need more space for the honers, the honers themselves and the hones. Imagine how fast they'd wear through hones! Heck, they'd probably have to mechanize the lapping process. And imagine if they added in shave testing as well; they'd need so many shavers/people to shave. (Could probably open their own barber shop to solve that, though.)

On the other hand, I do think selling truly shave ready razors would be excellent for the end users and the sport at large. Not to mention a leg up on the competition (though maybe not enough to justify the costs, especially for TI - sorry, but the two new TI's I've come across needed some pretty substantial bevel work). So, razor manufacturers, you know where to find me when you need new employees.