Dovo straights

[TenorClef]

Today was my first shave with my Dovo, sadly i think it may well be the last as i dropped my Dovo in the ceramic sink and chipped the edge, now i don't know if i can use it??? The actual shave was quite pleasant and pretty close too. Just one battle wound which should heal. Actually the shave to my upper lip area is probably the best results I've ever had dam shame i dropped the Dovo. Man these things are fragile.

 

[LarryAndro]

Today was my first shave with my Dovo, sadly i think it may well be the last as i dropped my Dovo in the ceramic sink and chipped the edge, now i don't know if i can use it??? ....

Now, that is a crying shame! But, send it to me and I'll hone for free. You need a break, partner!

 

[TenorClef]

Larry your a true gent, however i've just returned the Dovo to Steve at the Invisible Edge, he's going to fix it for me some how for £20. An expensive first lesson. Tomorrows shave is going to be with that nice 'Emperor William' you sent me. Thanks for all the notes you included too.

 

[LarryAndro]

You are welcome. Again, too bad...

 

[michiganlover]

he's going to fix it for me some how for £20. An expensive first lesson.

I have a really limited knowledge of razor restoration, but I would believe he is going to grind the bad part of the razor off, creating a new round point in the process. The overall razor length will thus be slightly shorter.

I have a Boker King Cutter, that I believe originally had a spike point on it, but due to damage to the blade now has a round point. Apparently the damaged part of the blade was ground off, and a round point created. The round point was already on it, when I purchased the razor.

 

[TenorClef]

I have a really limited knowledge of razor restoration, but I would believe he is going to grind the bad part of the razor off, creating a new round point in the process. The overall razor length will thus be slightly shorter.

I have a Boker King Cutter, that I believe originally had a spike point on it, but due to damage to the blade now has a round point. Apparently the damaged part of the blade was ground off, and a round point created. The round point was already on it, when I purchased the razor.

Hey John, how you getting on with your straight shaving, i see your already investigating hones! Man, this straight shaving really feels like I'm starting from scratch again. The other day with my DE Gillette 'Fat Boy' i had an awesome shave and this first shave with my straight leaves much to be desired. Yeah I know, i can probably say the same thing when i started DE shaving compared to Mach 3's.

 

[michiganlover]

Man, this straight shaving really feels like I'm starting from scratch again. The other day with my DE Gillette 'Fat Boy' i had an awesome shave and this first shave with my straight leaves much to be desired. Yeah I know, i can probably say the same thing when i started DE shaving compared to Mach 3's.

First, your 1st time experience with straight shaving is the norm. Straights have a significant learning curve. You get to be a partial newbie once again.

Already knowing how to effectively use your brush, and generate an effective lather gives you a major leg up over a full out newbie.

Also, you have already learned the beard growth patterns of your face, and know which directions you can safely shave to avoid irritation.

It is a whole new learning experience, but it's a great challenge, and hopefully you will make significant steps forward in a short period of time like I have.

Once you get comfortable holding a super sharp 3" long blade to your face, straight razor shaving will come more natural.

The biggest piece of advice I can give, is to learn proper skin stretching. It will make, or break your straight shave.

I have carried skin stretching over to my other shaves as well, and the quality of my DE shaves is greatly improved.

Hey John, how you getting on with your straight shaving, i see your already investigating hones!

I am doing quite well.

I haven't been straight shaving every day for a few weeks now. My Boker had an edge that was dulled beyond my ability to recover it, and I much prefer to shave with my Boker over my Le Grelot. I like round points far better than a french point.

I did attempt to use my Le Grelot this morning, but the edge needs a touch up.

My Boker should be back from honing later this week, so I will be back straight razor shaving in full force once it arrives. WOOT!!

I want to try my hand at honing; it's a new adventure.

So, I sold off my Kai Captain (disposable blade straight) as I prefer to use my "real" straight.

The selling of the Kai is financing the purchase of the hones. Right now I have a low cost set of hones coming off of the Bay, but they should suffice to allow me to get my feet wet.

My first hones should show up in about a week or so.

I may trade the Le Grelot for a razor I enjoy more, that doesn't have a french point on it.

 

[The Invisible Edge]

I have a really limited knowledge of razor restoration, but I would believe he is going to grind the bad part of the razor off, creating a new round point in the process. The overall razor length will thus be slightly shorter.

I have a Boker King Cutter, that I believe originally had a spike point on it, but due to damage to the blade now has a round point. Apparently the damaged part of the blade was ground off, and a round point created. The round point was already on it, when I purchased the razor.

You're quite right, though I may be able to just reprofile the point. An expensive first lesson? Well, if you learn from it it's not too bad. Hell of a sight better than trying to catch the blade as it drops though...........

 

[TenorClef]

2nd shave this morning, this time with my vintage Emperor William. The shave seemed different for a whole host of reasons, the Emperor seems like a tiny razor in comparison with my Dovo i used the other day, although i didn't actually mind this. I had a fair bit of stubble to work through this time, so i could really hear the Emperor going to work. Even managed some across XTG in places but was at a lost at times to figure how to hold the blade when trying to work my chin area. So i got what feels like a BBS in some parts of my face and other parts were a make do CCS at best. Oh yeah almost forgot, just one weeper this time on my upper lip area, not to bad.

Today was try the strop day.......i have a feeling this is the make or break deal with straight shaving. Decided to use Larry's table trick. I placed my blade spine leading and did about 50 strokes although I really wasn't sure if i was doing it right. Occasionally i heard a sound that felt like 'yeah that stroke was right' but i'll have to wait to see if i start getting diminished results or not.

 

[LarryAndro]

Putting the strop on the edge of a table turns it into a paddle strop, and you are much less likely to dull your edge. You have done fine I am sure as long as you used light pressure.

 

[TenorClef]

Today was shave 3. My face feels a bit tender after this shave and yet another cut in the same general area as the previous shave, given the type of cut i can see i need to avoid that type of pass and keep the blade either down or up against the grain and not side ways. Tried running a hair down the blade (HHT?), blade seems sharp to me. Will probably have a day off tomorrow. Running low on Proraso AS and found via ebay a local traditional Italian barbers in my home town who is also quite happy to hone/strop my straight should it require one so that could be handy.

 

[michiganlover]

given the type of cut i can see i need to avoid that type of pass and keep the blade either down or up against the grain and not side ways.

With practice, you can do quite a few different directions with a straight. That said sideways across the face (from East to West or West to East; depending on which side) is extremely difficult to pull off without nicking yourself. I can do it quite easily on my checks, but on my upper lip, if I am not super super careful, I will gouge my lip doing this maneuver.

I am on about shave #35, and haven't yet found an effective technique to use on my upper lip that doesn't involve shaving from the nose outward....

 

[TenorClef]

[I am on about shave #35, and haven't yet found an effective technique to use on my upper lip that doesn't involve shaving from the nose outward....[/QUOTE]


Upper lip is not to bad thus far, i just hope that these cuts/nicks/grazes become less frequent as like your self i work in a public industry and going to work with various cuts and grazes is not good.

 

[michiganlover]

become less frequent as like your self i work in a public industry and going to work with various cuts and grazes is not good.

I work in the technology department of a public school.

On any given day, I interact with about 20-30 different people (obviously not always the same 20-30 people either).

If you work in a small office, and badly mess up your face, you get teased a little by your co-workers, and you shrug it off. When you work among as many people as I do, your professional appearance becomes much more important.

 

[TenorClef]

Could be making progress, todays shave i managed to get through with no cuts and managed what i felt was an acceptable shave. Not BBS though. I'm wondering if the blade is less sharp then when i first got it, yesterday my ebay 12K Chinese hone arrived so in my excitement i ran my straight over it about 100 times (dry), i've read that these 12K Chinese hones are slow stones, followed that up with about 50 turns over my leather strop. I figure the straight is sharp but some how not as sharp as when i first got it from Larry. Hey maybe that's no bad thing?

 

[LarryAndro]

I would agree that it is quite likely that the razor is slightly less sharp as when first received. And, this is typical for everyone. For someone who is just starting to shave, the technique isn't quite there yet, and the extra dullness is very much noticed. With better technique, the little bit of extra dullness is not noticed nearly as much.

Pay attention to those items always mentioned in these contexts... skin prep, face stretching, and when you get a little more confident a little slicing action with each pass. (Watch videos, and you will notice that sometimes the razor is moved forward, tip slightly leading, at a slight angle. This significantly increases the efficiency of the shaving action.)

Let me offer you one suggestion about skin prep and specifically warmth: shave your whiskers while they are hot, right after heating that section of your skin with a hot towel. That might not sound practical, and it certainly adds to the time required to shave. But, it certainly helps!

A little discussion of this point follows. Read or not...

Typically, we warm and wet our face to soften the beard., and apply the lather, and shave. By the time we shave a spot, it might have been 10 or more minutes since the lather was applied. By then, the beard is still wet, but the skin and whiskers have cooled.

My assumption had been that once properly hydrated, warmed and softened that the lather would maintain the whiskers in a reasonably cuttable condition. Once, I performed an experiment to test this idea, and was really surprised by the results.

When my beard was hot, immediately after application of lather, the whiskers seemed like they melted away from the blade. After only one minute cooling, as in 60 seconds, the whiskers were noticeably more difficult to shave! After several minutes, the difference was even more significant.

So, I tried hot lather. But, it cooled down too quickly. And, it wasn't hot enough anyway to do as much good as a hot towel.

So, I put a mug under hot running water, and put a shave brush in the mug. Beside it I put my regular shave bowl with lather. With the "water brush" I heated a section of my face, with the other brush applied lather, and immediately shaved. Wonderful! The tough areas of my beard melted away.

For a few times, I would slap hot water on a section of face, slap on lather and shave. Then, go on to the next small section. It took forever to shave that way! But, it was an easy shave.

My point is that when learning, you won't be shaving quickly anyway. And, while learning you can use every advantage you can get. A focus on shaving hot whiskers can make all the difference! As your technique improves, you will find that maintaining an edge in scary sharp shape is nice. But, not nearly as important as you might otherwise think.

 

[dancraig]

Fancy "tip job".

 

[Piano Black]

I started with a 4/8 from Larry... It was really a great move. I was about to jump in head first and just go straight for the Dovo 5/8 Special. Granted I did end up purchasing that razor in the end, starting with one of Larry's cheaper (yet still great shaving ) razors was a great move. Had I gone straight to the Dovo and hated shaving with straights (which I don't) I would have been out 100+ dollars and very upset about my decision... In regards to the maintenance of the razor... to me that is part of the appeal. Putting work into a blade that you actually use yourself. For me straights are all about the enjoyment. I don't use them everyday, but on weekends or when I have some extra time, I put away the DE and break out one of my straights

 

[LarryAndro]

Rearranging this quote slightly...

I started with ... one of Larry's cheaper (yet still great shaving ) razors... Granted I did end up purchasing that [more expensive Dovo] razor in the end

I have always thought of my razors as the entry razor into straights, and fully expect most to buy nicer razors later. I don't think the moderators at StraightRazorPlace.com viewed it that way though. I believe they thought of me as a competitor for their sales of razors.

 

[TenorClef]

Todays shave was a bit of a cheat shave, i needed to have a quick shave so i only used my straight for my cheeks and did the rest of my face with my DE Merkur Futur. Good shave but my Dovo arrived today but due to work it had to be returned to the Royal Mail Depo so tomorrows shave will be with the Dovo.