Thread: pearlex dovo 5/8 arrived!! first razor!

Looks like another good reminder to Newbies, a new razor right out of the box is rarely shave ready unless hand honed first. I am surprised that Shaving and Razor Shop would say this as they are one of the leading European resources. of course Dovo promotes this same myth in their advertising and Nordstroms ads for the new Henkels will also say it needs no honing to use.

A newbies best bet when buying a razor is to get it hand honed. Either buy a used razor from one of our forum members who will do it up right, or buy new and have it honed as Classic Shaving or Shaving Shop offers or already honed as I do. We have several retailers here like Jim at Vintage Blades selling nice razors too and you can easily send it off to several of our group members for honing as well if you buy there. I am sure there are several other resources among us too and I look forward to Josh's Vendor Directory.

It is good to learn to hone yourself but maybe not the best bet right at the start. A pre-honed razor will give you something as a reference to what shaving sharp really is.

Tony

I'm with Tony on this one. My piece of good luck was to come across X while we were still living in the same city and have him show me how to hone properly and what to expect from a shave-ready blade. (Thanks X )

how many laps in the belgian cocticule hone to sharp a bit ??

thanks

Originally Posted by danzyc

how many laps in the belgian cocticule hone to sharp a bit ??

There is no definate answer to that. It depends on how sharp the razor was from the factory, the condition of the coticule, and your skill. I'm no honemeister so I'll leave the specifics for someone else to answer.
I can say that I honed 2 brand new 5/8 straights last weekend that were not shave ready out of the box (one of which was a Dovo) and it took roughly 15 minutes each, I didnt count the laps. I used a Norton, coticules will be different.

They are slower cutters so they will take more time. You need to read up on all the coticule-related threads in the hones forum.

danzyc, first you try to shave with the razor. It is quite possible that it is sharp out of the box. Maybe the company you bought it from has sharpened before sale. If it won't shave, try 15-30 on the Belgian stone, and repeat if necessary.

g luck,
Nenad

after the belgian hone...how i can check if it is sharp enough??