Is a Vintage Dovo Inox and Thiers-Issard worth buying? Or vintage in general?

I have a chance to buy these two straight razors and they look pretty good. They're in good condition and I was wondering what the Dovo Inox is. Was it a base model and how much would you pay for used, but in good condition of these brands - or any other for that matter? How do you know? I know that's a hard question, but I wanted vintage and not new to get started... is that a wrong approach?

Thanks,
Ryan

Inox means stainless, so this is a stainless steel razor. "Vintage" in this case means used, but not very old, and hence not nearly so risky as a crusty old Marsh Pondworks. Just about all vintage stainless razors whether Dovo, Puma, Henckels, C-Mon, etc are in good to great shape and will shave well when honed up.

As for your particular Dovo Inox and TI razors, check the current retail prices on www.classicshaving.com, and negotiate down from there.

I just bought this razor off of Ebay for like $34. http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Dovo-Inox-Straight-Razor-w-Etched-Blade-Case_W0QQitemZ220157796424QQihZ012QQcategoryZ35990QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem . For a Dovo, and for the price I paid, I'd say I got a pretty good deal, although it looks a little dirty. How does one go about taking the pins out and cleaning it up?

Thanks,
Ryan

P.S. Have you ever used or heard of these being used to sharpen straight razors? http://www.sharpeningwheels.com/index.html

Unfortunately, what you have there is not a razor. It's a wood scraper. It *was* a razor when it left the factory, but a previous owner reground it for woodworking duty and completely ruined any future shaving capability.

As for the bench grinder link you posted, the only razor honing stories using similar systems (Tormek) that I've heard have been unsuccessful ones. Straight razor honing is a delicate job requiring hand work.

mparker762,

This is not a defensive question be any means, but one to learn from... how do you know the previous owner reground it? I need to know so I can avoid buying junk then in the future. I take it Ebay is dangerous for razor buying... ?

Do you think I could resell it on Ebay for more than what I paid and is that why it was only $34?

Thanks,
Ryan

It is an educated guess. That razor has had a *lot* of metal removed - somewhere between a third and half of the blade, and that sort of thing takes an extremely long time on a razor hone (days? maybe weeks?), or minutes on a belt or drum sander. I've got razors that are two hundred years old with less hone wear. I don't know that the seller is the one that reground it - it could have been done a decade or more ago, maybe as much as 50 yrs ago.

In the close-up photo, look how wide the flat spot at the spine (top of razor) is? This should be very tiny, a pencil-line at most for a razor of that vintage. Similarly, see where the edge of the razor runs into the heel of the razor? A fully hollow razor has been ground twice, once to establish the main curve of the blade, and a second time using a smaller wheel to hollow out the middle of the blade. Usually this second grinding wheel stops an eight of an inch or so short of the back of the blade, leaving a stair-step thick section called the "rib". In front of that rib, a fully hollow razor blade has a cross-section kind of like the old waisted coke bottle, it starts out thick at the spine (back) of the blade, then gets very thin, then thick again, then thin again to the edge. This razor has had so much of the blade ground away that the thick area near the edge is completely gone, yet the edge is perfectly straight, which means that somebody did this to this razor, it isn't likely to have happened because of centuries of bad honing.

As for using it as a scraper - some woodworking friends of mine have mentioned such things. Razors are apparently fairly popular for this because they are readily available and they are made of such hard steel. They grind the razor down to the thin area in the middle so the scraper won't flex and pop too much when they're scraping some hardwood. You see these on ebay every now and then. Sometimes they grind them into a thin toothpick of a knife to use for woodcarving, again because the steel is so hard and holds an edge extremely well.

Hmm... well... seems like now I have a practice razor to hone with. That sucks... so, are there ever good deals on Ebay and if so, how do you spot them?

Thanks for the advice,
Ryan

Yes, there are some good deals on ebay, even in this market. I've gotten mint razors from great manufacturers for < $15.

It's mostly a matter of knowing what to avoid. Any "new" razor < $40 or so is likely a Pakistani, and will neither take or hone an edge. Common Pakistani brands include Krieger, Master, Rattler, Zeepk, Mehaz, etc. Any razor billing itself as "german-style" or "solingen-style" should be avoided.

If the photos are blurry, then run away. If the photos only show the razor closed or partially open or don't show the entirety of both sides of the blade, then run away. Both cases could be innocent, but they could be a seller trying to hide problems. If the description doesn't match the photos, then run away. If the seller uses weasel words like "looks old" or "seems sharp" or "could be restored" or "great/good condition for it's age" then take anything else he says with a grain of salt because he doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to razors. It doesn't disqualify the seller, but it does mean you've only got your own judgement and the photos to go on.

Next is to avoid razors with obvious damage - chips, nicks, rust, cracks. Tarnish is also a danger sign, though many really old razors are tarnished and if that's what you're after then you'll have to take your chances. Many old razors have some rust at the pivot, as long as it's not too bad you can live with it. Flash glare can hide a *lot* of rust and tarnish. If there's any flash glare in the photo and you can still see rust or tarnish then the razor is almost certainly a goner unless you're willing to regrind it - this may be worth it for a 150 yr old Sheffield razor, but probably not for anything newer.

Next look for excessive or uneven hone wear. Wide honing flats at the spine, wide bevels, blade narrower at the heel or toe, concave blade edge (if you're holding the blade edge-down this looks like a frown). Convex blade edge (smile) isn't as big of a deal and to some people it's even desirable, though I personally feel it's a negative unless the razor was designed that way (if so, the spine of the razor is curved the same way). However, what would be excessive hone wear on a 50-yr old razor could be considered minimal hone wear on a 200-yr old razor. But any razor of recent vintage (1900's on) should have very little wear - there are too many nearly-mint examples from this era on ebay to bother with a heavily-used razor.

If it looks too good to be true then it probably is. Maybe it isn't, but you've got to have confidence in your experience and judgement to make that call, and you can still get burned.

Your best bet when you're just getting started is to either buy new, or buy vintage from one of the guys here or on SRP. Not all of the vintage razors from these guys are in great shape (they are selling their cast-offs after all), but even an unattractive razor can be a great shaver if it's cleaned up and honed by somebody who knows what he's doing. I shaved with a Clauss yesterday that's got a pitted spine and pits and tarnish on the blade (fooled by camera flash) but shaves just fine once I honed it up. If you are determined to buy your own off of ebay, either because there's one you fell in love with or just feeling independent, then post a link to it on SRP and ask for opinions from the peanut gallery - SRP doesn't have a prohibition against linking to active auctions like B&B does. Let them know you're a newbie and you're likely to get more detailed responses.

FliGuyRyan said:

I just bought this razor off of Ebay for like $34. http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Dovo-Inox-Straight-Razor-w-Etched-Blade-Case_W0QQitemZ220157796424QQihZ012QQcategoryZ35990QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem . For a Dovo, and for the price I paid, I'd say I got a pretty good deal, although it looks a little dirty. How does one go about taking the pins out and cleaning it up?

Thanks,
Ryan

P.S. Have you ever used or heard of these being used to sharpen straight razors? http://www.sharpeningwheels.com/index.html

Click to expand...

I am sorry dude. Mparker is right that razor is a letter opener. almost half the blade has been ground out.

mparker762 said:

As for using it as a scraper - some woodworking friends of mine have mentioned such things. Razors are apparently fairly popular for this because they are readily available and they are made of such hard steel. They grind the razor down to the thin area in the middle so the scraper won't flex and pop too much when they're scraping some hardwood. You see these on ebay every now and then. Sometimes they grind them into a thin toothpick of a knife to use for woodcarving, again because the steel is so hard and holds an edge extremely well.

Click to expand...

I had never heard of such a thing before. I suppose a woodworker will grind, file, or beat any piece of steel into service, but I cannot imagine using any of my razors for this purpose. Actually, it runs counter to my preference in using scrapers - I prefer heavier gauge steel cards, and bend them during use - but then again there are many roads to Rome.

Heck, I have a few pre-restoration edges I use to open cartons and letters. Drives Mrs. T barking mad.