Dovo Shame 

@@RoninVancamp Thanks for tuning in Ronin. Happy shaves

@@pikaporeon Thanks for watching. I like how these shave and the tightness of the plastic scales over wood. I’ll probably buy another one. I have friends who have expectations about new shave pieces that easily exceed my own even on low cost stuff. For them, I say it may not be perfect.

Thanks Joe. Good points. Dovo and other surviving manufacturers should just ship razors UHONED and allow the end user to sharpen it or require the dealer to do so. That would end the debates on what shave ready. It would also reveal whether the dreaded Dovo frown comes from the grinding stage or the use of convex hones. FWIW, I shaved factory edges numerous times, just to see if I could and what they were like. Even GoDollahs. Out of the 5 I thought were acceptable, only 1 was exceptional. I have 2 customs that still have the makers edge.

@@RealSweetTom Hope you like it. I do like my own honing better. Most accomplished honers feel the same way.

Dovo , Ti , Boker should all concentrate more on their factory edge's. Nothing puts off a new straight razor user more than a poor factory edge......with modern industrial methods there's really no excuse . Agreed more experienced shavers like ourselves are happy to tune up a new razor. But how sad that there really should be a printed disclaimer on new razors, " This new razor may not be shave ready, as we have lost the skills " Very good points made Bill !

Thanks Mike. Unfortunately Dovo, other European razor makers, and that beloved China outfit Ningbo Gold Dollar all seem to proclaim that stropping is the only maintenance required for long periods of time. Here is the current official Dovo publication: ------------------------ SHARPENING THE RAZOR If you have the feeling that stropping doesn't achieve the desired effect, the cotton or hemp side of a belt can help. Very experienced shavers will rub it with an abrasive and pull the straight razor several times on it to sharpen the blade. Honing should not be done by beginners as a wrong pull can ruin the razor's edge! If your straight razor doesn't feel sharp or the shave slowly becomes a little rough, it can be resharpened again. The best way to do this is to contact us directly, as the cutting edge of a straight razor and the complex blade geometry have to be ground very precisely. That's the only way to ensure that your shave is as gentle and thorough as ever. If you ever drop your straight razor, the entire blade may have to be resharpened again. Send us best a photo via the Help Center, so we can assess the damage. --------------------------- At least they admit to a “complex blade geometry” but given all the bad press these folks seem to get on how razors come from the factory, who is going to send a razor BACK to them for sharpening regardless of the shape of the sharpening tools they use? How many ‘one time’ purchases of straight razors are made because they think factory razors are actually shave ready only to find uncomfortable performance? On the subject of ‘Master Manipulations of Hone Meisters’, I have heard more than one instance of razors (some quite expensive and unique) that were sent to that notorious Dovo/Jarrod hater GSsixgun only to be received back looking very pretty and in a ‘HONE READY’ condition. 😎 So is the life of the ‘Honemaster Superior With a Beard’ who claims he has test shaved every one of the 30k razors he has honed. 😂

@@Martins-Shaves123 Thanks Martin. It is my belief that razor makers could avoid a lot of bad press and do themselves a favor to market their products with options such as “Hone Ready” or “Factory Honed”, then see what has the best ‘repeat sale’ factor.

@@billm.2677 Spot on Bill !

@@billm.2677lol! 😅 He must shave five time a day.

Thanks for tuning in. Hope I amused you. The lily white has been shaped and recorded at this writing. I want to do the inverse one (concave), then link it all together and edit it some. Stay tuned.

@@billm.2677 Sounds good. I am looking forward to it.

I cheat on knives and use a rod guide system. 😀 For me on razors, I sought out what I liked most and sought to replicate it. I have shaved with excellent edges honed by others using their particular style and liked them. I just couldn’t replicate their method here.

Thanks for tuning in. It is no secret that Dovo has been mostly silent on their practice of the use of a crowned hone, techniques used by grinders in Germany that can be traced back to the 1840’s. Those comments were private and came second hand to me. The Shave Forum Grand Poobahs mostly declare that using a convex hone causes a frown like the one I have. I easily use convexed hones to diminish or remove a frown. The theory is simple, a curved abrasive surface can easily sharpen razors that have ANY deviations from the perfect prismatic triangle to an apex. Böker does publish in their blog that their razors have a concave bevel. I am very pleased with the results I am getting. ……………………. It is a lot of reading, but here is the English translation of the straight razor section in the ancient German grinders handbook describing the use of a convexed surface. I sometimes reference this text and try to apply these techniques to my own work. ……………………….. Polytechnische Mittheilungen, Volum 3, Page 28 and 29 G) Straight Razors The blade of the aforementioned has a uniqueness, which sets it apart from all other types of knives: the full hollow ground, from spine to cutting edge and a thickness of material close to the cutting edge close to nonexistent whenever compared to the much thicker spine. These characteristics have their good reasons. As it is generally known, to prepare a straight razor for use, after it has been as close as possible completed on the the rotating sharpening stone/wheel, it has to be honed on a flat hand stone; this means it has to be laid flat on the (with oil coated) stone in the specific manner of letting the spine and bevel touch the stone simultaneously, and under very mild pressure, against the cutting edge, - to avoid burr formation - guide the razor on both sides as long as it is necessary. Doing this forms 2 thin (usually 0.2 to max 0.6mm broad) bevels, when those two become one the cutting angle of the razor is set. The hollow nature of the sides, even though it does not contribute to the cutting angle of the razor, is of great importance for this task: it causes the knife to be in contact with the stone on only two places, so it is very easy to be held in this position, some could say it almost holds itself in position, because there are no other points of contact to be found. The most useful result of this is the fact, that the aforementioned bevels will be even and smooth; where as in the sharpening process of a razor with non hollow ground sides and weaker/skinnier spine, an artificial inclination against the stones surface has to be introduced, which is not as reliable, and with the resulting unstableness on the one hand side comes an uncertain cutting angle or on the other hand side, even worse, a slight convex in the bevels, which greatly depletes the needed fineness of the cutting edge. If it was the goal to create a razor with an even (non hollow) side and a spine, so thick, that it would touch the stone while honing in the same manner as mentioned above, the blade would be needed to be honed evenly across the whole side, which would not only make the business of sharpening razors immensely difficult and take longer but also the guidance of the razor by hand, as the worker, unbeknownst, could lift the spine or the bevel of the razor a tiny bit off the stone. The hollowness has another use case: it is the reason, why the bevel inwards has an even thickness across a long distance which lets the razor keep a smooth edge with a small bevel/cutting edge, which makes the process of honing easier and faster. The stone used for honing has to be hard, with very dense structure and even grit, because without these characteristics there is no way a smooth cutting edge can be produced. Some use 2 or 3 stones with gradual fineness in grit; it can be said, without a doubt/certainly that by only using one single very fine stone - maybe with a bit/significant more time needed - the goal of a smooth edge can be reached, this might even be better for the bevel/cutting edge, as the harsh grit marks from the lower grit stones do not need to be polished out. Others go even one step further and change the surface of the stones used in their gradual sharpening stone set. A well-versed man in this matter (honing razors) told me of this for him very advantageous practice: The first, sharpest/best biting/roughest stone (which can be an oil or water stone) shall be made to a convex surface. The second stone in the arsenal, which is a levantinian oilstone that word does not really exist anymore/is a negatively connoted word.. so it should better be called stone from the orient or an arabic one from syria/lebanon/jordan etc. shall be prepared in the same way, even though with less convexness; only the third (last) stone shall be flat, and for this one a fine hard clay slate stone (blue sharpening stone) shall be chosen, here the honing shall always be done with water only. This method is rational; with the convexness of the first two stones the steel near the bevel will be thinned down successively, which only leads to a superbly thin bevel with the last stone, who only needs very little work to do so: I have my doubts, as this method of honing on convex stones requires more experience than even the undoubtful experience needing process of honing on flat stones. As a matter of fact this process, as far as I know, is only used by knifemakers, knivegrinders and barbers. so basically he tells us, that we normal dudes do not know enough/have not had the years of training required to hone on convex stones The razor, by far, does not hold an edge needed for use after the sole usage of stones; the sweeping/stroking/stropping god damn, there is no really good English word for that - all of us agree on stropping, so most likely stropping is the best translation has to happen, which polishes the cutting edge, meaning it removes the last bits of roughness left behind by the stones. This work, as it is well known, is done by using the so called pull-off strop or hanging - here again there is no English translation for this other than leather strop strop, which is made from a veal or Russian leather strip, whose fleshside leather has 2 sides is used and beforehand impregnated with a mixture of fine honing or polishing powders and fat. For these compounds/powders polishing red (kolkothar) is used for one side and black lead/graphite I simply do not know which it was, although I'm betting on graphite, this compounds can still be bought today btw. Herold makes them, this typical red and black compound for the other strop side.

@@James-wg8qk HI James. Thanks for tuning in and offering everyone your opinion. I am quite experienced in the understanding of the points you make, I regret that you have not progressed from where you are. All shave forum Honemaster Superiors and Drone Doners who have NEVER tried a convexed hone have regurgitated those exact points for years. I can even list the names for you. You are probably not aware that these “warps down the edge” you speak of likely come from the ONLY existing Solingen Forge in which ALL Solingen razor makers must use to market a protected “Solingen” trademark. These crappy warped Solingen razor blanks are also sold outside Germany. You will hear the most whining about Dovo only because they represent many times the volumes of other makers. As for my lackings, I am well aware of every one of them, and this is not one. Looking forward to actually help others, can you please come out of your parents basement and make us some honing videos on the topic to prove you are not just another expert level keyboard krusader that has only mastered BS. Tag me in on your vid so I will be sure to catch it.

@billm.2677 I don't know how, from any of my comment, you gathered that I have never tried either a convex stone or a blade that had been honed by one. I am also not certain how you think a convex stone will change the surface area of contact, when the whole purpose of a convex stone is to change the angle and profile of the bevel to the apex. When you make videos, you open yourself up to criticism and discourse. If that is something your ego can't handle, maybe consider not making them. For your own mental and emotional health. These QC issues with Dovo are so widely known and have played their fair part in the company failing. Personally, I hope they pull it together, cause when a Dovo is good, it's good. Otherwise, why pay a premium price for a crap shoot on quality? Especially when there are so many other makers out there that can produce consistent quality. Take Ralf Aust, for example. Solingen based, one man operation, and never sends out the garbage Dovo has. Honestly, Bill, if you can't hold a conversation without making wild and unfounded personal attacks, I would prefer you just not reply.

@@James-wg8qk I still doubt you ever honed off a convex hone, convince me. Do you understand an elliptically crowned hone? If so, you could understand how contact surfaces change so a blade and spine contact with varies. I and others have presented it many times here on RU-vid. Most users of convex hones have this elliptically crowned surface, even though the 1840s German grinders handbook cataloging the techniques does not specify a cross crowning nor curvature specifications. Let’s understand, this is my channel, where I talk about what I want, and I control the content. If you are looking a safe haven for the bloviating open criticism and discourse that is your exemplified style, start your own channel. And you are completely free to not watch my stuff or comment. I really hope you don’t think that anything you can say damages my ego or mental and emotional health. What Shave Forum did you say you were affiliated with again? I’d guess the Bludgeon & Beatdown or the Squatters Razor Palace based on your typical parroting of the typical Dovo QC whine. And if you have to blame Dovo because you can’t hone their stuff without starting by bread-knifing 1/16 off on a diamond plate, it is not them, it is you. Oh and let’s take Ralf Aust who generallyhas a fine reputation for razor making, but has sent out his fair share of poorly QC’d bent/warped razors. Probably because like every other production razor maker, he is too cheap or lazy to forge his own stuff and uses the same crappy bent up stuff from Hugo-Herkenrath forge that everyone else use. I applaud that he did make good on some very sloppy scale trimming a well known collector caught him trying to pass off as good QC. The QC manager probably missed something when he hit it with his white stick. One good thing about Ralf is that he had Brad Maggard go over there and teach him how to hone right. “So many others”? Give me a break, Straight razors are almost universally dying. When Ralf hangs up his apron, there will be not apprentice who will pick it up. I’m not really here to hold conversations. Like I said, it is MY Channel where I talk about what I want and try to entertain those who wish to take the time to watch. And, if you come on MY channel to deliver me a scolding that ends with “This speaks to a lacking on your part”, then expect me to not to discuss it on a later vid your are kidding yourself. Somehow when I do this and invite those who are offended to Smash that Unlike and Unsubscribe button, I always wind up with more subscribers from around the world. If you want a place that hates convex honers and is sensitive to your needs, head on over to the B&B. I do thank you for the future content though.

Thanks Glen. It does have some sizzle. And shaves pretty good. I find Dovos a bit easier to sharpen than TI’s, but quicker to degrade. They grind very nicely thin, for a slightly less rigid feel in use than TI’s.