"Shave Ready" straight razor

Hi, I bought a new Dovo White handled straight razor from The Shaver Shop recently, and when asked whether it was shave ready, they replied that yes it is...Well, I made myself a strop, stropped the razor before the first shave (For the most part, I stropped properly) and I have to say, the results were underwhelming, since then, I've shaved with it 2-3 more times and it's getting worse, lots of tugging and hair not even being cut...I can get a nicer, safer, smoother shave with a slightly used disposable blade in my Dovo Shavette...So I guess my question is, does "Shave Ready" in general mean "You should get this honed or hone it yourself even before your first use" Or am I missing something?

Maybe there's a steeper learning curve or the technique changes when you move to a straight? Help! I really want to enjoy my new straight, but it's very not fun.

Stropping a shave ready razor with a home made strop and admitting that you stropped properly"for the most part" before the first shave leads me to believe that we may never know for sure whether you rolled an edge or they failed to send it to you "shave ready".

Stropping a freshly honed/stropped razor is for the most part unnecessary.

Frank

if it is shave ready then you should be able to shave out of the box. unknown varibles did you roll the edge from stropping? was the razor indeed shave ready? are you holding at the right angle? the spine should be no more than twice the width of the spine off your face. i test my razor by holding it about 1/4 inch above my arm and see if it pops hair. as far as a shavette the angle off your face wont be the same as the straight. a whipped dog razor would give you something to compare the dovo to or one off the b&b forum. i have many spares and do my own honing, but if one gives less than satisfactory results i can swap to one that's up to snuff and if you cant or don't have the ability to hone you probally want a second razor anyway.as far as shave ready the shave test is the real test.

I may have rolled the edge, but does that mean I have to re-hone it? Or just take it to the strop for a few extra rounds? I've tried an arm hair test and it had a hard time even cutting that...

Stubblez said:

I may have rolled the edge, but does that mean I have to re-hone it? Or just take it to the strop for a few extra rounds? I've tried an arm hair test and it had a hard time even cutting that...

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It sounds to me like it needs to be touched up. I doubt that the strop will do it. You may end up snapping any rolled/wired edge off and embedding it into the leather.

Send it out for professional honing. Harsh advice I know. But, that's the only way to know for sure.

Frank

Is there any professional honing services in australia? I'm a bit funny about exports and stuff, I've heard australian customs tend to confiscate blades when sending them overseas..

Z, welcome to straight shaving! I'd suggest you ask your vendor if they would touch up your razor for you. You might also look to buy a beginner strop. Another neat strop idea is the folded newspaper, with or without a Crox crayon. I'm sure there are Oz hone meisters, however. You've come to right place to find them.

Stubblez said:

Is there any professional honing services in australia? I'm a bit funny about exports and stuff, I've heard australian customs tend to confiscate blades when sending them overseas..

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Depending on whom you bought it from they may retouch it for free. It definitely sounds like it needs to be touched-up. When sharp, straight razors glide through those whiskers without effort.

Ok, so you bought a Dovo. Was the box sealed ? Or had the shop owner opened it and tested it/rendered it shave-ready ?

New razors are supposed to be shave-ready, but the last few year's I've heard complaints about new Dovo's, especially the entry-level cheap razors. I honed 3 of those for beginners, they had massive geometry problems, one was actually dull. Not "not shave-ready" but awfully dull. That is NOT to say all those cheap Dovo razors are problematic, but it seems that some bad ones slip quality control.

So the problem could be the razor, and of course it could also be you who did something funny with the razor.

The odds of purchasing a straight that is truly shave ready are very poor. The vast majority are not and need a good honing. If your original vendor said it was straight ready and you still found to be lacking I would hesitate to go back to him for honing.

I had a look at their website and nothing about them makes me believe they know there's a difference between new and honed shave ready. That being said the way you describe your progression it sounds like you are also doing something to make it worse. That's just part of learning unfortunately and I went through it myself here recently (I think I'm on straight shave #54, they say you need 100 to learn). You can definitely damage an edge by shaving with the wrong angle, stropping incorrectly, etc

I respectfully suggest you have a look in the Straight Razor Shave Clinic for a few hours, then maybe browse around the Journals and Diaries section to read about the rest of us who are learning and may be having similar experiences. Having a second razor to use while you send one for honing is a great idea as you learn.

Fear not! It takes time but it is very rewarding!

I did bad stropping on my Thiers Issard (first razor) when I got it. I still managed to shave and whatever damage the strop did, the strop fixed eventually. Which tells me the razor was shave-ready when I got it.
My second razor was a Dovo, and I could shave with it (no stropping errors this time), but it just was not sharp enough. So shaving took forever and was getting messy due to too many passes at the same place.
I had a cheap strop with a suede side on which I rubbed some crOx. I did about 50 laps on it with the Dovo and it started shaving like a dream. So the factory edge was not exactly shave ready, but it was close.

Welcome to B&B: If you don't want to make the investment in sharpening stones just yet. Send it to a hone master on the B&B forum to get a proper edge. Money well spent. Good Luck.

I just read you post saying you live in Australia. Hopefully some fellow countrymen will chime in with helpful suggestions.