Thread: Double Arrow Quality ?????

Originally Posted by Philadelph

But that's the thing Dan- I remember reading accounts from experienced people of getting DAs with terrible steel that would not hone up well enough to give a comfortable shave. Maybe you got a less than bad one (remember- no good ones lol).

Were those accounts not regarding the razors that are marked "double arrow" on the scales or the tang? I read those are different very low quality razors...

OK, here's my take on them, as I have held, fondled, ground, sanded, honed, cursed, and shaved with a total of 7 of them myself. So it's not just what I've read on the forums about what someone else's opinions are of them:



The scales almost all have come very loose and wobbly--that is easily fixed by peening the pins. After that they won't win any beauty contests, but they will work functionaly just fine to protect the blade, etc. that said I always throw an a new set anyhow, 'cause I roll like that

I'd say that Glenn is about right in his assertion that about 75% of the tangs are not straight as an....er....arrow. That has been my experience as well. See previous post for a way to correct this.

The spine bevel often times is quite wide where it merges into the tang/shoulder. As I mentioned in a previous post, some lower grit honing will eliminate that as an issue. Yes, you do need to actually apply some craftsmanship to get it into line, and I wouldn't recommend that a newbie give it a go, or buy one with the expectation that it will be super-easy to hone one up. But any experienced honer should be able to handle that issue, no problem. And seeing as this thread exists in the Workshop forum, it should also come with the territory.

The blade itself, as I have said have been surprisingly evenly ground. The outlines are a bit varied (see pic below), the points may come in various degrees of roundpoints, and the width of blade varies a bit as well, but the grind taper has always been remarkably nice in my opinion.


And they have all been able to hone up and take a very keen edge.

Here is an array of edges from various razors (only one of them is a DA), all taken at 200x and honed by me. Take a guess as to which one is the DA, OK?

Example A


Example B


Example C



Example D

c......?
It looks like it has some "inclusions" in the steel?? maybe?

Originally Posted by littlesilverbladefromwale

c......?
It looks like it has some "inclusions" in the steel?? maybe?

X!



Nope! That's a swedish stainless steel Dovo Renaissance edge. I think the little balck marks are just surface contamination.

Next guess, anybody?

You're going to have to zoom out a little, I can't really see anything besides a Seraphim bevel

I have only dealt with 2 of them one was straight and one was not. Both blades took a good edge and shave well with a little bit of work.

Seraphim I will take a crack and go with B

And B was just a random guess no real reason

Originally Posted by sbrouwers

And B was just a random guess no real reason

X!

Nope, that's the edge of the dreaded Wapi...

2 down...

OK, my turn... D?

I have one DA, which I got over a year ago. Aside from the scales, which were replaced, the razors been pretty good, with no real problems. Easy to hone and takes a great edge too. Guess I was lucky, or maybe the ones being sold now are worse in terms of QA?