Detail Blade, worth a shot?

[BorderDog01]

So, I have been shaving with a straight razor for many years now. Just recently my employer started to allow us to grow beards. I LOVE the straight razor for cleaning up my neck line, I can get a perfectly straight, consistent edge. However my Dovo is too big to trim up my cheek line. I have been using a shavette for that, but I am not thrilled with the quality of the shave/trim.
After doing some looking, I found this Gold Dollar straight that is only 1.6inch long.
Gold Dollar W58 Mini
It's only 30 bux, worth it? I don't currently hone my razors myself, just paste strop ect.. You think I or someone could make this a good razor? Do I just stay with the shavette?
Or..... Are there other shorter Straights? This was the only one I was able to find after much searching.

Thanks
BD

 

[Herrenberg]

45mm (about 1 3/4") is a common size for kamisoris, and my favorite size. 50mm are more common. Bet the steel in most of them is better than in the GD, though GD fans say their steel is pretty darned good.

For 30 bucks, I'd say why not try it out? But if you don't hone, you'll need someone to do that, which adds to the cost.

I'll skip the "learn to hone, it's fun" angle. But I won't skip this: lots of people are using full-length straights to do this sort of trimming. I too have a beard, and shave around it. But length has been much easier to deal with than height for me. What issues are you running into with your Dovo? Maybe there's a trick that would address them.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

How wide is your Dovo? My first few years of straight shaving were just to edge my beard, with a 5/8 round point. It worked ok. A 4/8 might be something to consider. Pretty nimble as far as getting tight spots.

 

[Eastcoast30]

I trim my beard neck line and cheek line with a standard length razor. But I also have kamisoris and Japanese tombo style razors that are in the 2" range. I prefer the longer razor for neck line and the shorter for cheek line. But whichever I pick, I just use the one. My favorite is the Iwasaki below.

 

[dabrock]

I have found the GDs from Fendrihan are better than the ones you tend to see on places like Aliexpress. I even got one that came shave-ready so I wonder if they have better steel and fabrication than the cheaper gold dollars. I have been thinking about the mini as well, but I went with the TI Le Petit Francais baby razor instead, but that's about 3x the price.

Unless the shavette is horrible I would probably stick with that, or improve your technique with the Dovo since you can use the toe and heel for detail work. I use the toe for trimming around my beard without issue, but it takes a bit of practice and often inverting my hand to get the right angles.

 

[Zhang Doe]

After doing some looking, I found this Gold Dollar straight that is only 1.6inch long.
Gold Dollar W58 Mini

That is adorable. I must have one. Too bad shipping from Fendrihan to my overseas location costs more than the razor itself.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

4/8th Red Imp and “Wedge” razors are readily available for about the same money, by some of the premier razor makers of the “Little Valley” of New York at the pineal of razor making. Or a Duck Dwarf.

I have always though that these razors were designed just for that purpose as beards were common in the 1800’s and early 1900’s.

For $30 you really can’t go wrong and properly honed a GD will trim a beard just fine.